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HOME  MISSION  TRAILS 

MAKING  MISSIONS  REAL  (With  Others) 

METHODIST  ADVENTURES  IN  NEGRO  EDUCATION 


LOST  IN  THOUGHT 
Perhaps  he  is  wondering  what  the  future  holds  in  store  for  him. 


J.W.  Thinks  Black 


VOLUME    NUMBER    Two 

IN  THE 
JOHN  WESLEY,  JR.,  SERIES 


BY 


JAY  S.  STOWELL 


Copyright,  1922,  by 
JAY  S.  STOWELL 


Printed  in  tha  United  States  of  America 


TO 

THE  YOUNG  MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF 
THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY  WHO 
HAVE  CAUGHT  THE  VISION  AND  ARE 
WORKING  TO  USHER  IN  THE  DAY 
WHEN  INDIVIDUALS  OF  ALL  RACES 
EVERYWHERE  SHALL  HAVE  A  FAIR 
CHANCE  AT  THE  GOOD  THINGS  OF  LIFE 


550137 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

FOREWORD 13 

I.    A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD 15 

II.    GETTING    ACQUAINTED    WITH    SOME    NEW 

NEIGHBORS 43 

III.  IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON 66 

IV.  JOHN  WESLEY,  JR.,  MEETS  A  SURPRISE....     89 
V.    How  FAR  CAN  THE   NEGRO  Go? 112 

VI.    THE  RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE 131 

VII.    A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP 150 

VIII.    AN  EVENT  AND  A  VISION..  .   168 


ILLUSTRATIONS 
LOST  IN  THOUGHT Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  COTTON  AND  THE  CANE 43 

Two  RURAL  NEGRO  SCHOOLS 66 

THE  COLLEGE  DEPARTMENT  OF  WILEY  COLLEGE 89 

IN  THE  PHARMACY  AT  MEHARRY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE.   112 

THE  INTERIOR  OF  A  NEGRO  HOME 131 

A  GROUP  OF  NEGRO  CHILDREN 150 

THE  HOPE  OF  THE  NEW  DAY.  .  .168 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  SOME  ASPECTS 
OF  THE  RACE  PROBLEM  IN  AMERICA 
AND  TO  THE  WORK  OF  THE  METH 
ODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH  AMONG 
AMERICAN  NEGROES 


FOREWORD 

THE  characters  of  John  Wesley  Farwell,  Jr.,  and 
his  friends  are  the  creation  of  the  Rev.  Dan  B.  Brum- 
mitt.  They  have  been  duly  introduced  by  him  to  the 
public  in  the  volume  entitled,  John  Wesley,  Jr.  It  is 
the  privilege  of  the  present  writer  to  accompany  some 
of  these  interesting  young  people  as  they  explore  a 
little  further  into  the  work  of  the  church  and  to  face 
with  them  some  of  the  problems  which  make  the  path 
of  Kingdom  progress  a  difficult  one  and  some  of  the 
encouragements  which  are  to  be  met  along  the  way. 

J.  S.  S. 


CHAPTER  I 
A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD 

JOHN  WESLEY  FARWELL,  JR.,  son  of  Delafield's 
leading  hardware  merchant,  was  just  back  home  from 
an  eventful  Oriental  sales  and  study  trip.  He  was  a 
traveling  salesman  with  a  future,  but  he  was  also  newly 
married  to  Jeannette  Shenk,  who  wanted  a  home.  His 
chief  problem  at  the  moment  was  to  reconcile  these 
somewhat  conflicting  relationships. 

He  knew  that  his  father  meant  him  to  inherit  the 
store  and  all  thereto  belonging  and  appertaining.  Jean 
nette  naturally  desired  a  home  of  her  own,  with  J.  W. 
(short  for  John  Wesley  Farwell,  Jr.),  as  joint  owner, 
manager,  and  occupier.  She  had  no  hankerings  to 
be  the  lonely  wife  of  a  rising  young  traveling  salesman. 
The  Cummings  Hardware  Company,  wholesale,  of 
Saint  Louis,  knowing  a  good  man  when  it  saw  one, 
and  knowing  as  much  as  wholesale  houses  usually  know 
about  the  mentality  and  sentimentality  of  young  wives 
— which  knowledge  might  be  represented  by,  say,  a 
mark  of  17  on  a  scale  of  100 — naturally  expected  that 
J.  W.  would  stick  to  his  job,  and  having  one  successful 
foreign  trip  to  his  credit,  would  in  time  become  one  of 
their  foreign  representatives. 

Add  to  this  that  J.  W.  Farwell,  Senior,  was  not  yet 

15 


1 6  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

ready  to  retire,  even  in  favor  of  his  hustling  and  sensi 
ble  son,  and  you  have  the  materials  of  not  a  few  en 
tirely  amicable  but  rather  difficult  discussions  between 
J.  W.  and  his  bride  of  a  month. 

The  net  result  of  their  several  conversations  was 
something  of  a  compromise,  to  wit :  No  more  foreign 
trips  yet  awhile ;  the  new  home  to  be  set  up  in  Delafield ; 
a  sales  territory  not  quite  so  far  afield  as  the  wide  and 
rangy  Southwest ;  the  Cummings  people  to  be  asked  to 
make  J.  W.'s  trips  short  and  more  frequent,  if  neces 
sary;  and  an  extension  of  his  vacation  until  after  the 
new  home  was  settled.  "The  Cummings  people" 
meant  Peter  McDougall,  general  sales  manager,  and 
he  at  last  was  convinced  and  consenting. 

Then  came  days  of  ceaseless  but  cheerful  shopping; 
there  was  sufficient  money  fof  an  adequate  if  modest 
outfit,  and  Jeannette  had  sense  and  self-control  enough 
to  keep  her  faithful  to  the  rule  she  had  laid  down  at 
the  first :  "Not  how  much,  but  how  good." 

And  after  the  shopping,  the  getting  settled!  No 
body  who  has  not  played  hero  or  heroine  in  the  charm 
ing  domestic  comedy  of  setting  up  housekeeping  knows 
what  poetry  and  romance  lurk  amid  such  material 
things  as  furniture,  rugs,  china,  curtains,  and  kitchen 
furnishings.  Such  a  succession  of  problems  in  com 
bination  and  balance  and  adjustment!  Such  incidents 
and  accidents  calling  for  laughter  and  kisses  and  simu 
lated  commiseration!  Such  pretty  debates  and  con 
tentions,  each  performer  striving  to  forestall  the  other's 
self-denial.  Such  happy,  clean  disorder,  of  wrapping 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  17 

paper  and  excelsior,  of  packing  boxes  and  tissue,  of 
furniture  out  of  place  and  hangings  neither  up  nor 
down !  Let  those  who  have  not  lived  all  this  think  to 
console  themselves  with  whatever  pretentious  pleasure 
they  choose;  they  have  missed  something  in  itself  bliss 
ful  and  a  producer  of  happy  memories. 

You  would  not  expect  a  bridegroom  thus  occupied 
to  have  much  time  or  thought  for  the  changes  that  had 
been  coming  in  Delafield.  The  unforeseen  illness  of  his 
loved  pastor  Drury  had  saddened  J.  W.,  but  nothing 
else  had  meant  much  in  the  first  days  after  his  return 
from  the  Orient,  until  one  morning  Jeannette  reminded 
him  that  domestic  questions  might  be  related  to  civic 
changes. 

It  was  at  breakfast,  on  the  first  day  after  Jeannette 
had  been  willing  to  admit  that  most  of  the  work  of 
getting  settled  was  done.  J.  W.  was  living  at  the  mo 
ment,  more  than  content  with  his  bride,  his  home,  and 
the  morning  meal.  Not  so  Jeannette,  at  least  as  to  the 
house. 

"Now,  I  must  see  about  getting  regular  help  for  the 
washing  and  cleaning,  J.  W.,"  said  she.  "This  house 
will  be  a  little  too  much  for  me,  if  you  expect  it  to  be 
kept  up  as  it  deserves." 

"That's  all  right,"  said  J.  W.,  "I  want  it  to  be  just 
whatever  you  want  it  to  be.  And,  of  course,  you'll 
need  help." 

Jeannette  was  thoughtful.  "They  say  white  help 
is  almost  out  of  the  question.  I  guess  we'll  have  to  get 
a  colored  woman,  though  I  don't  know  much  about 


i8  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

Negroes.  It  ought  not  to  be  hard  to  get  somebody,  for 
there  certainly  are  a  lot  of  Negroes  in  town  now." 

"Since  you  speak  of  it,"  J.  W.  assented,  "it  does 
seem  as  though  the  complexion  of  Delafield  had 
changed  some  in  the  last  year  or  two.  We've  always 
had  Negroes  here,  but  now  you  meet  them  everywhere 
— in  stores,  on  the  street,  in  the  factories,  in  the  street 
cars,  and  even  in  offices." 

"They  came  in  the  Exodus  we  heard  so  much  about 
during  the  war,"  Jeannette  observed. 

"Yes,"  J.  W.  agreed,  "that's  so.  You  remember 
what  the  pastor  of  our  Negro  church  said  about  it 
when  he  asked  me  to  speak  at  that  League  Convention. 
But  I  didn't  suppose  the  newcomers  would  stay  long." 

"Well,  they're  here  yet,  most  of  them,"  Jeannette  de 
clared,  "and  I'm  told  that  others  have  been  coming 
lately.  Do  you  suppose  that  you  could  get  hold  of  that 
pastor?  He  might  know  of  somebody  who  could 
help  me." 

J.  W.  promptly  supposed  he  could.  "Let's  see,  what 
was  his  name?  Driver?  That's  it,  Alexander  Driver. 
I'll  look  him  up  this  very  day." 

So  over  he  went  to  the  Saint  Mark's  neighborhood 
as  soon  as  the  proper  allowance  of  time  for  the  after- 
breakfast  farewells  would  permit. 

At  first  he  hardly  recognized  Saint  Mark's.  The  im 
provements  which  had  been  begun  soon  after  his  first 
acquaintance  with  the  Negro  minister  had  become  so 
extensive  that  the  whole  plant  looked  new  and  much 
larger,  and  it  was  not  without  a  certain  quiet  dignity. 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  19 

The  pastor  had  a  combination  of  study  and  office, 
with  telephone,  typewriter,  desk,  and  such  like  equip 
ment;  and  there  was  a  goodly  array  of  books  on  the 
shelves. 

He  recognized  J.  W.  at  once,  and  was  quite  willing 
to  be  of  service. 

"Yes,"  he  said  when  J.  W.  had  put  the  case  before 
him,  "I  can  send  Mrs.  Farwell  a  dependable  woman, 
and  I  shall  be  glad  to  do  it.  Many  of  our  people  are 
out  of  work  just  now,  and  finding  such  places  as  I  can 
for  them  is  part  of  my  pastoral  business." 

"You  will  be  doing  us  a  great  kindness,"  J.  W.  as 
sured  him.  And  then,  as  he  looked  around  again,  "By 
the  way,"  he  said,  "you  must  have  been  making  a  good 
many  changes  since  I  sold  you  that  bill  of  roofing." 

"Yes,  indeed,"  said  the  preacher.  "Maybe  you  re 
member  that  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 
Extension  made  us  an  appropriation,  and  we  matched 
it  by  an  equal  amount  raised  right  here.  It  was  a  stiff 
pull,  but  we  managed  it,  and  the  money  made  it  possible 
for  us  to  put  in  all  sorts  of  facilities  that  were  badly 
needed." 

"As  I  remember,"  said  J.  W.,  "you  had  only  one 
room  before,  but  now  you  seem  to  have  quite  a  num 
ber." 

"Yes,  that's  so,"  said  Pastor  Driver.  "About  all 
we  could  do  before  was  to  hold  preaching  and  prayer- 
meeting  services.  Now  we  have  rooms  for  Sunday- 
school  classes,  clubrooms,  and  equipment  for  various 
other  purposes,  including  a  cafeteria  which  is  open 


20  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

every  day  except  Sunday.  We  have  a  parish  visitor; 
our  Sunday  school  is  big  and  growing  bigger,  we  have 
an  Epworth  League,  a  Junior  League,  two  Mothers' 
Clubs,  a  troop  of  Boy  Scouts,  and  half  a  dozen  evening 
study  classes." 

"Then  everything  is  going  much  better  with  you 
than  when  I  was  here  last?"  suggested  J.  W. 

"It  is  and  it  isn't,"  said  Alexander  Driver.  "We're 
pretty  busy  in  the  church,  and  things  are  really  going 
forward,  but  in  the  community  as  a  whole  I  am  not  so 
sure.  Sometimes  I  think  conditions  are  getting  worse 
instead  of  better." 

"In  what  ways?"  J.  W.  inquired,  his  curiosity 
aroused. 

"Well,  in  the  relations  between  the  races  here  in 
Delafield,"  said  the  minister.  "You  see,  when  the  first 
influx  of  Negroes  came  to  Delafield,  everybody  was  so 
busy  with  the  war,  and  there  was  such  a  demand  for 
labor  of  any  kind,  that  people  were  rather  glad  the 
Negroes  had  come.  Wages  were  high,  everybody  had 
a  job,  and  attention  was  centered  upon  the  enemy  across 
the  sea.  It  was  no  time  for  discovering  occasions  of 
difference  here,  even  though  the  old  population  of  the 
town  was  white  and  the  new  was  black." 

"That's  right,"  said  J.  W.  "I  remember.  And  the 
slump  in  business  after  the  war  began  to  make  trouble, 
I  suppose." 

"It  certainly  did.  Jobs  have  been  scarce,  and  there's 
competition  for  them,  black  against  white  in  many 
cases.  Some  of  the  factories,  which  then  were  willing 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  21 

enough  to  hire  Negroes,  have  now  let  out  Negroes 
altogether,  because  of  pressure  from  white  workers. 
Our  people  have  no  chance  to  exert  pressure  of  that 
sort,  though  they  would  do  it  if  they  could,  I  don't 
doubt.  Other  factories  have  cut  down  on  the  number 
of  Negroes  they  are  willing  to  employ.  And  it  all 
makes  for  bad  feeling,  especially  when  our  people  try 
to  get  into  the  poorer-paid  jobs  by  underbidding  white 
laborers.  So  now  we  have  quarrels  and  fights  and 
trouble  of  many  sorts." 

J.  W.  was  interested.  He  had  not  heard  of  these 
things  before,  but  he  could  see  that  they  might  affect 
his  own  affairs.  And,  anyway,  they  affected  Delafield, 
which  meant  something  to  him  as  a  citizen  and  a  busi 
ness  man. 

"Do  you  think  it  will  come  to  anything  serious?"  he 
asked. 

Pastor  Driver  did  think  so.  "The  thing  I  fear  most," 
he  said,  "is  that  some  of  the  rougher  element  among 
the  white  people  may  try  to  drive  or  frighten  the  col 
ored  people  out  of  the  place.  We  have  our  own  rough 
element,  of  course,  and  any  outbreak  of  that  sort  is 
sure  to  bring  on  a  clash.  One  or  two  houses  bought  by 
colored  people  have  already  been  burned,  in  very  pe 
culiar  circumstances,  and  we  have  had  other  forms  of 
damage  to  property.  And  there's  an  even  worse  thing 
going  on." 

"How  could  anything  be  worse  than  burning  and 
destruction  ?"  J.  W.  said,  wonderingly. 

"Much  worse,"  Driver  answered.    "Some  question- 


22  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

able  resorts  have  been  opened  up  in  this  part  of  town. 
They  are  run  by  colored  people,  but  they  are  said  to  be 
owned  and  controlled  by  whites.  The  blacks  get  all 
the  blame,  although  we  have  tried  to  get  the  resorts 
closed  up,  but  the  police  department  for  some  reason 
is  very  slow  to  act.  What  I  fear  is  that  something  may 
break  loose  all  of  a  sudden  among  these  places,  and  if 
it  does,  there  is  no  telling  how  far  it  will  go  before 
the  sober  good  sense  of  both  races  can  stop  it." 

"That  is  worse,"  said  J.  W.,  "if  it  is  as  you  think. 
But  I  can't  believe  you  have  any  great  cause  for  fear. 
I've  lived  most  of  my  life  in  this  town,  and  you  won't 
find  a  more  peaceable  and  law-abiding  people  anywhere. 
Even  if  we  have  been  getting  new  and  maybe  unde 
sirable  citizens,  both  black  and  white,  I  think  the  solid 
good  sense  of  the  town  will  take  care  of  any  emer 
gency." 

"I  hope  you're  right;  with  all  my  heart  I  do,"  said 
the  Negro  pastor,  "but  I'm  not  altogether  easy  in  my 
mind  about  it." 

J.  W.,  as  he  had  said,  was  unwilling  to  believe  that 
Delafield  had  in  it  any  possibilities  of  lawlessness,  and 
so  he  was  almost  as  unprepared  for  what  befell  before 
that  day  was  done  as  if  he  had  not  talked  to  Alexander 
Driver  at  all. 

Back  from  Saint  Mark's,  he  put  in  a  busy  eight 
hours  at  the  store,  and  was  as  serene  a  picture  of 
healthily-tired  young  manhood  as  you  could  ask  when 
he  turned  in  at  the  home  gate  and  was  met  half  way 
down  the  path  by  Jeannette  coming  to  give  him  wel- 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  23 

come.  She  had  put  on  her  daintiest  gown;  she  had  a 
supper  ready  which  he  knew  would  be  a  good  one ;  and 
it  was  in  the  minds  of  them  both  to  drive  out  after  sup 
per  along  the  road  of  their  lovers'  dreams  to  the  old 
farm  and  the  folks. 

The  farm  was  not  especially  lonely,  with  the  two 
younger  children  about,  but  with  Marty  too  far  away 
for  any  but  occasional  visits  and  Jeannette  busy  with 
a  house  of  her  own,  Father  and  Mother  Shenk  felt  the 
absence  of  the  older  children.  They  welcomed  the 
visitors  eagerly.  The  young  folks  told  about  their 
new  house  and  its  furnishings  to  the  accompaniment  of 
a  running  fire  of  questions  from  Ben  and  Alice.  Then 
they  wandered  out  to  the  orchard,  and  by  the  light  of 
a  lantern  picked  up  a  basket  of  apples  to  take  home. 
There  was  another  basket  all  ready  for  them  when  they 
got  back  to  the  house,  packed  with  a  card  of  honey,  a 
roll  of  butter,  two  or  three  cans  of  fruit,  a  jar  of  pickles, 
and  other  good  things  which  flourish  nowhere  except  in 
a  real  country  larder. 

It  was  after  nine  when  they  started  back,  and  the 
moon  had  vanished  behind  a  bank  of  cloud.  Thirty  or 
forty  minutes  later  they  saw  the  lights  of  Delafield. 
As  they  entered  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  by  the  way 
of  the  Negro  settlement,  it  became  evident  that  some 
thing  unusual  was  afoot. 

By  the  dim  light  of  the  street  lamps  they  made  out, 
as  they  passed,  swift  shadowy  forms  issuing  from  the 
cottages — men,  women,  and  younger  folk,  some  of 
them  half -clad,  as  though  they  had  been  called  from 


24  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

preparations  for  bed.  The  honking  of  automobiles 
mingled  with  a  steadier,  more  sinister  sound,  the 
swelling  murmur  of  a  crowd  in  great  excitement. 

A  little  further  on,  the  street  filled  up  with  people  so 
that  J.  W.  was  afraid  he  might  run  into  some  heedless 
figure.  Steering  his  car  into  a  side  street,  where  Jean- 
nette  would  be  safe  for  the  moment,  J.  W.  stopped, 
climbed  out  of  the  car,  and  pushed  back  into  the  crowd 
afoot. 

Everywhere  men  were  shouting  and  gesticulating, 
but,  as  usual,  few  knew  what  it  was  all  about.  J.  W. 
caught  a  swift-flung  sentence  or  two  as  he  moved 
ahead. 

"They  got  him,  all  right,"  he  heard  one  man  say. 

"That  nigger  sure  could  run,"  said  another. 

"They'll  fix  him;  he'll  never  do  any  mischief  again," 
said  a  third. 

A  fat  man  stood  out  on  the  running  board  of  a  car, 
shouting,  "Lynch  him!  Lynch  him!  Lynch  him! 
We'll  teach  them  niggers  a  lesson.  We  ought  to  drive 
the  whole  bunch  out  of  town." 

A  few  steps  farther  J.  W.  was  in  the  thickest  of  the 
crowd.  At  first  he  could  not  see  what  was  at  the  center, 
but  soon  he  was  looking  over  the  shoulder  of  the  man 
in  front  of  him,  and  discerned  a  prostrate  form. 

For  the  moment  there  was  little  stir  at  the  heart  of 
the  disturbance.  The  man  on  the  ground  seemed  ex 
hausted  and  spent,  and  those  about  him  appeared  un 
decided  about  their  next  move.  Two  of  them  had  lan 
terns,  by  whose  light  J.  W.  could  see  that  their  captive, 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  25 

for  he  was  bound  as  well  as  fallen,  was  a  Negro.  He 
was  covered  from  head  to  foot  with  the  dust  of  the 
road.  His  clothes  might  have  been  respectable  once, 
but  they  were  disreputable  enough  now.  Most  of  them 
had  been  torn  from  him.  The  rest  hung  in  shreds  and 
tatters.  He  might  have  been  anywhere  from  twenty- 
five  to  forty.  He  lay  there  panting  and  fearful,  while 
his  captors  stood  uncertainly  yet  threateningly  over 
him. 

One  reason  for  the  comparative  calm  at  the  center 
was  an  altercation  going  on  at  one  side  of  the  narrow 
ing  circle.  One  of  the  men  was  evidently  the  sheriff ; 
he  was  bold  enough  or  reckless  enough  to  make  him 
self  known.  The  other  was  a  self-appointed  leader  of 
the  crowd. 

"I  tell  you,  he's  our  nigger,"  said  this  individual,  a 
big,  wide-shouldered  fellow,  "we  caught  him,  and  we're 
going  to  take  care  he  gets  what's  coming  to  him." 

"And  I  tell  you  you  won't  do  anything  of  the  sort," 
said  the  sheriff.  "There'll  be  no  mob  violence  in  this 
town  so  long  as  I'm  sheriff  of  Madison  County." 

"How  about  it,  boys?"  roared  the  big  man.  "Do 
we  stand  for  this?  We  chased  him  and  we  caught 
him.  Ain't  he  ours?  I'll  say  he  is.  What  say  the  rest 
of  you?" 

There  were  coarse  shouts  of  approval. 

"Give  him  what's  coming  to  him!" 

"String  him  up!" 

"Let  him  swing!" 

Events  had  moved  so  rapidly  that  J.  W.  at  first  was 


26  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

rather  dazed.  But  as  the  fearful  meaning  of  these 
cries  forced  itself  into  his  mind  he  knew  he  must  do 
something. 

"You're  wrong,  men,"  he  cried  out,  outwardly  calm 
but  deeply  stirred  within;  "I  don't  know  what  this 
Negro  has  done,  but  this  is  a  town  of  law,  and  ours  is 
a  country  of  law.  Even  a  criminal  is  entitled  to  a 
chance,  and  a  fair  trial.  You  can't — " 

"And  who  might  you  be?"  said  the  spokesman. 

"Never  mind  who  I  am,"  said  J.  W.  "I've  lived  in 
this  town  most  of  my  life,  and  I'm  not  ready  to  think 
its  citizens  will  stand  for  disgracing  its  good  name  by 
mob  violence." 

"Oh,  shut  up,"  the  big  man  said  in  angry  disgust. 
"Talk's  cheap,  and  we  mean  business.  We'll  hang  this 
nigger  now,  and  you  can  make  your  speech  after 
ward.  Come  on,  boys,  bring  the  rope.  One  of  you 
take  an  end  of  it  and  climb  that  telegraph  pole." 

As  he  spoke  he  reached  for  the  rope  and  began  to 
make  a  noose  in  it.  In  a  moment  it  was  done,  and  the 
loop  deftly  slipped  over  the  head  of  the  frightened 
Negro.  "Hurry  up  with  that  other  end  of  the  rope." 

Another  of  the  crowd,  helped  in  his  first  efforts  by 
ready  hands,  began  to  climb  the  pole,  but  it  was  a  long- 
ish  way  to  the  first  cross-piece,  and  he  never  reached  it. 

No  man  could  have  said  how  the  thing  might  have 
resulted,  but  the  elements  took  a  hand  just  then,  and 
put  a  swift  and  almost  comic  end  to  the  possible 
tragedy.  For  some  time  the  clouds  had  been  piling  up 
overhead,  with  occasional  rumblings  and  premonitory 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  27 

flashes  of  lightning,  but  the  crowd  had  been  too  deeply 
absorbed  in  its  own  storm  to  think  of  any  other.  Now 
a  few  big  drops  fell,  followed  with  startling  sudden 
ness  by  the  swish  of  wind-driven  torrents,  while 
hats  and  tree  branches,  tossed  by  the  impetuous  gusts, 
turned  every  man's  attention  to  his  own  safety.  The 
lightning  became  livid,  blinding,  fearsome;  the  thun 
der  crashed  about  men's  ears,  a  terrifying  tempest  of 
sound. 

And  the  mob  did  not  break  up;  it  vanished.  One 
moment  there  was  a  murderous  crowd  milling  around 
a  cowering  prisoner;  the  next,  there  was  a  deserted 
street,  save  for  the  four  men  who  had  been  the  center 
of  it  all.  There  lay  the  Negro,  bound  hand  and  foot. 
There  stood  the  sheriff,  suddenly  freed  from  any  neces 
sity  of  making  good  his  defiance  of  the  mob.  There 
waited  J.  W.,  and  beside  him  the  hard-voiced  volunteer 
who  had  essayed  to  lead  the  lynching  party,  his  hand 
still  on  the  rope  he  had  knotted  and  put  over  the  Ne 
gro's  head. 

With  an  oath  he  turned  to  the  sheriff,  tossed  the  wet 
rope  toward  him  and  shouted  above  the  storm,  "Here, 
take  your  nigger  if  you  want  him,"  and  was  gone. 

Unperturbed,  the  sheriff  reached  into  his  pocket, 
pulled  out  a  pair  of  handcuffs,  snapped  them  on  the 
Negro's  hands,  loosened  his  bonds,  and  ordered  him 
up.  Together  they  started  down  the  street,  while  J.  W. 
hurried  back  to  Jeannette  and  the  car. 

The  whole  affair  had  only  taken  a  few  minutes ;  to 
Jeannette,  mystified  and  frightened,  an  eternity;  to 


28  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

J.  W.,  absorbed  and  tense,  no  time  at  all.  He  found 
her  safe  but  drenched,  where  he  had  left  her.  She  had 
tried  to  protect  herself  with  what  coverings  she  could 
find  under  the  car  seat,  but  with  small  success.  As  for 
J.  W.,  he  was  soaked  to  the  skin. 

The  talk  on  the  way  home  was  mere  syllables,  but 
once  in  the  house  they  became  busy  finding  dry  cloth 
ing,  and  as  soon  as  they  were  settled  before  the  gas 
fire-log,  Jeannette  demanded  the  whole  story. 

"I  didn't  get  it  all  straight,"  said  J.  W.,  "but,  as  near 
as  I  could  find  out  in  the  excitement,  this  Negro  had 
killed  a  white  child.  Evidently,  the  crowd  had  been 
chasing  him  for  quite  a  distance.  From  his  looks  I 
judge  they  had  some  fight  when  they  caught  him.  As 
I  came  up  they  were  trying  to  scare  the  sheriff  into 
keeping  out  of  the  fray,  and  he  was  showing  fight. 
But  they  might  have  won  out  if  that  storm  hadn't 
broken  just  when  it  did.  That  wind  and  rain  sure  put 
a  damper  on  their  spirits.  The  crowd  seemed  to  fade 
away  almost  between  two  lightning  flashes.  It  was 
almost  funny,  but  it  was  mighty  lucky  too.  This  town 
wouldn't  have  lived  down  the  disgrace  of  it  for  a 
generation  if  they  had  killed  that  Negro.  Doubtless 
he  ought  to  be  punished,  but — well,  this  mob  violence 
stuff  has  got  to  be  stopped  in  America,  that's  all.  I'd 
like  to  know  the  whole  story,  but  I  guess  we'll  get  it 
in  the  morning." 

There  was  much  talk  in  Delafield  the  next  morning. 
The  story  of  the  events  of  the  preceding  night  had 
already  been  told  in  a  thousand  different  ways,  and  no 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  29 

one  seemed  to  know  quite  what  the  truth  of  the  matter 
was. 

Opinions  with  reference  to  the  threatened  mob  action 
differed  widely.  A  few  noisy  ones  said  that  the  Ne 
groes  were  a  bad  lot  anyway,  and  that  Delafield  was 
getting  too  many  of  them.  They  hadn't  any  business 
in  the  North,  or  in  the  United  States,  for  that  matter. 
They  ought  to  be  sent  back  to  Africa,  where  they  came 
from.  This  was  a  white  man's  country,  and  if  the 
Negroes  didn't  like  it,  they  could  get  out. 

Others  were  more  restrained.  They  admitted  that 
this  particular  Negro  might  have  deserved  to  be  shot  or 
hung,  but  they  were  mighty  glad  that  something  had 
stopped  the  proceeding  just  the  same,  for  it  would 
have  been  a  disgrace  upon  Delafield  which  they  could 
never  have  lived  down.  Delafield  had  too  good  a  repu 
tation  for  law  and  order  to  squander  it  in  revenge  on 
a  Negro,  especially  since  the  law  would  see  that  he  got 
all  that  he  deserved. 

Long  before  the  time  for  the  informal  hearing  of 
the  case  arrived  that  morning,  it  had  become  more  or 
less  common  knowledge  that  the  Negro  had  not  really 
killed  anyone,  although  it  was  intimated  that  he  had 
attempted  to  do  so.  Strangely  enough,  it  was  not  until 
the  large  crowd  had  assembled  in  the  courtroom  that 
the  real  truth  came  out. 

Rarely  had  any  event  caused  such  excitement  in 
Delafield.  The  courtroom  was  filled  to  capacity  with 
a  promiscuous  throng.  Every  seat  was  taken,  and 
many  people  were  standing  outside  in  the  corridor. 


30  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

The  sheriff  was  on  hand  with  his  prisoner ;  J.  W.  and 
the  Rev.  Alexander  Driver  had  seats  down  in  front; 
the  self-appointed  mob-leader  of  the  night  before  was 
nowhere  to  be  seen;  but  others  who  had  knowledge  of 
the  affair  were  there. 

To  J.  W.  the  prisoner  looked  much  less  disreputable 
than  he  had  the  night  before.  His  dirty,  torn  clothing 
had  been  replaced  by  other  garments,  which,  although 
they  did  not  exactly  fit,  at  least  covered  his  body.  His 
face  was  that  of  a  young  man  in  the  early  thirties,  and 
he  seemed  to  have  neither  the  appearance  nor  the  man 
ner  of  a  hardened  criminal.  J.  W.  noted  all  this,  and 
wondered  to  himself  how  a  man  with  so  inoffensive  a 
bearing  could  be  so  morally  debased. 

In  the  courtroom  there  seemed  to  be  little  evidence 
to  substantiate  the  rumors  which  had  been  so  widely 
circulated  a  few  hours  before.  Several  individuals  told 
what  they  knew  of  the  affair,  and  at  last  the  prisoner 
was  given  a  chance  to  tell  his  own  story.  In  response 
to  the  promptings  of  court  officials  he  told  who  he  was 
and  where  he  came  from,  and  undertook  to  explain  his 
part  in  the  events  of  the  preceding  night's  escapade. 

He  was  born  and  raised,  he  said,  in  the  State  of  Mis 
sissippi.  For  years  as  a  boy  he  worked  in  the  cotton 
fields.  He  lived  with  his  parents  and  attended  the 
little  country  church  when  they  had  a  preacher,  and 
went  to  school  when  they  had  a  teacher,  which 
wasn't  often.  At  last  the  chance  came  for  him  to  go 
to  a  school  for  Negroes  called  Rust  College,  at  Holly 
Springs,  Mississippi.  He  worked  his  way  through, 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  31 

and  graduated  from  the  normal  department.  He  mar 
ried  a  girl  who  also  attended  Rust  College,  and  after 
graduation  he  became  a  school-teacher.  He  taught  for 
several  years,  working  in  the  fields  during  part  of  the 
year.  During  the  Great  War  he  had  come  North, 
lured  by  the  demand  for  men,  the  attractive  wages 
promised,  and  by  what  seemed  to  be  larger  opportuni 
ties  for  his  two  children.  Since  that  time  he  had  been 
living  in  Delafield,  and  he  had  liked  it  so  well  that  he 
had  purchased  a  little  home  there,  and  was  regularly 
employed  as  a  driver  of  one  of  the  trucks  at  the  box 
factory.  The  day  before  he  had  been  sent  with  a  load 
to  a  neighboring  town.  As  he  was  returning  in  the 
evening  and  was  rounding  the  corner  into  the  main 
street  a  child  had  suddenly  darted  in  front  of  the 
truck.  He  had  applied  the  brakes  at  once,  but  al 
though  the  machine  was  moving  at  a  modest  rate  of 
speed  it  had  struck  the  child  before  it  stopped.  Some 
one  on  the  sidewalk  screamed ;  a  number  of  men  poured 
out  of  a  poolroom  nearby,  and  the  crowd  grew  rapidly. 
A  man  carried  the  child  into  a  house,  and  then  the 
crowd  turned  its  attention  to  the  driver.  Some  pretty 
rough  language  was  used,  and  threats  of  violence  were 
made.  By  this  time  the  crowd  was  so  large  that  the 
Negro  was  thoroughly  frightened,  and  seizing  what 
looked  like  a  favorable  opportunity,  he  bolted  and  ran. 
Almost  by  instinct  he  had  turned  toward  the  Negro 
section  of  town,  and  the  crowd  was  soon  in  full  pur 
suit.  Apparently,  few  of  them  knew  just  what  had 
happened,  but  the  general  impression  seemed  to  be  that 


32  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

they  were  chasing  a  Negro  who  had  killed  a  white  child. 
At  last  far  from  the  scene  of  the  accident  he  was 
cornered  in  what  proved  to  be  a  blind  alley,  and  was 
captured  after  a  desperate  struggle.  The  rest  of  the 
story  was  already  known. 

At  this  juncture  a  man  sitting  several  rows  back  in 
the  courtroom  arose.  He  was  recognized  as  one  of  the 
local  doctors.  He  said:  "If  it  is  of  interest  to  the 
court,  I  might  say  that  I  have  been  attending  the  child 
who  was  hurt.  I  was  called  hurriedly  last  evening,  and 
I  found  that,  while  the  child  had  evidently  been 
knocked  down  and  frightened  speechless,  by  the  time 
I  arrived  it  was  sitting  up  in  its  mother's  lap  and  had 
almost  forgotten  its  experience.  I  could  find  no  injury 
and  no  mark  of  any  kind  upon  its  body.  This  morning, 
on  my  way  to  make  another  important  visit,  I  called 
again  and  found  the  child  playing  normally." 

Following  this  statement  by  the  doctor  the  Rev. 
Alexander  Driver  asked  for  a  chance  to  say  a  word. 
"Judge,"  said  he,  "I  am  the  pastor  of  Saint  Mark's 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  I've  known  this  young 
man  and  his  family  ever  since  they  came  to  Delafield, 
and  I  believe  every  word  he  says  is  true.  His  name  is 
George  Lester,  just  as  he  told  you.  He  comes  of  a 
hard-working  Methodist  family  in  Mississippi,  and  he 
was  educated  at  Rust  College,  one  of  the  schools  for 
Negroes  established  and  maintained  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Since  he  moved  to  Delafield  he  and 
his  wife  have  been  members  of  my  church.  They  con 
tribute  to  its  support ;  he  is  an  official  of  the  church,  and 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  33 

is  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school.  His  wife  is  an 
educated  woman ;  they  have  two  fine  children,  and  their 
home  is  a  happy  one.  I  called  there  this  morning,  and 
I  can  assure  you  that  everything  he  has  said  is  true." 

The  upshot  of  the  matter  was  that  the  hearing  was 
quickly  ended,  and  for  want  of  any  case  against  the 
prisoner  he  was  discharged.  There  was  nothing  left 
for  the  onlookers  to  do  but  to  disperse.  Once  outside  of 
the  building  the  crowd  broke  up  into  smaller  groups. 
An  hour  later  some  of  these  groups  were  still  in  earnest 
discussion  of  a  subject  which  twenty- four  hours  pre 
viously  had  been  of  little  concern  to  any  man  among 
them. 

It  was  rare,  indeed,  for  Delafield  to  become  so 
aroused  over  any  matter  as  it  had  over  this  incident. 
But  events  had  brought  forcibly  to  the  attention  of  the 
people  that  right  here  in  their  own  town  some  prob 
lems  of  race  adjustment  must  be  faced  which  they  had 
not  previously  clearly  recognized.  When  it  was  noised 
about  that  the  new  Methodist  minister  who  had  suc 
ceeded  the  Rev.  Walter  Drury — now  that  that  gentle 
man  was  at  least  temporarily  incapacitated  for  service 
— was  to  discuss  on  Sunday  the  matter  of  racial  adjust 
ments,  a  good  many  people  who  were  accustomed  to 
sleep  late  on  Sunday  morning  arranged  to  forego  that 
luxury  for  once. 

The  church  was  crowded  to  the  doors  before  the 
service  began.  The  Rev.  Conrad  Schuster  had  not 
been  in  Delafield  long,  but  he  was  evidently  a  compe 
tent  and  devoted  minister.  He  conducted  the  opening 


34  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

worship  with  effective  dignity,  made  a  few  necessary 
announcements,  sat  with  bowed  head  while  the  choir 
sang,  and  then  rose  amid  an  expectant  and  almost  pain 
ful  stillness. 

"Friends,"  he  began,  "I  propose  this  morning  to 
preach  an  old-fashioned  gospel  sermon,  a  sermon  as 
old-fashioned  as  Jesus  Christ  himself — in  fact,  as  old- 
fashioned  as  the  prophets  who  preceded  Jesus  by  hun 
dreds  of  years." 

He  smiled  a  little  as  he  said :  "I  have  been  considera 
bly  perplexed  to  select  a  text  for  this  sermon,  because 
there  are  so  many  texts  which  seem  to  fit  it  so  well. 
We  might  take  the  words  of  that  sturdy  prophet  Amos, 
'But  let  justice  roll  down  as  waters,  and  righteousness 
as  a  mighty  stream.'  Or  we  might  take  Micah's  ques 
tion,  'What  doth  Jehovah  require  of  thee,  but  to  do 
justly  and  to  love  kindness,  and  to  walk  humbly  with 
thy  God?'  or  the  words  of  Jesus  himself,  'Woe  unto 
you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!  for  ye  tithe 
mint  and  anise  and  cummin,  and  have  left  undone  the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law;  justice,  and  mercy,  and 
faith.' 

"In  other  words,"  the  preacher  explained,  "though 
I  propose  to  preach  the  old-fashioned  religion  of  jus 
tice,  instead  of  talking  to  you  abstractly  I  wish  to 
apply  what  I  have  to  say  to  a  most  urgent  question 
which  we  have  long  faced  as  a  nation  and  as  a  church. 
Just  now  it  has  come  home  to  us  as  a  community.  I 
mean  the  question  of  race  relations  in  America,  the  re 
lations  between  the  white  citizen  and  the  black." 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  35 

The  congregation  settled  itself  to  listen.  It  felt  that 
there  would  be  something  to  challenge  its  interest. 

The  preacher  went  on :  "There  are  some  people  who 
say  that  there  is  no  problem  at  all.  But  that  is  foolish. 
It  is  as  senseless  as  the  folly  of  the  Hindu  ruler  who 
thought  to  deny  the  presence  of  death  in  the  drinking 
water  by  smashing  the  magnifying  glass  which  had  re 
vealed  its  dangers. 

"This  business  of  getting  along  with  people,  with 
the  folk  next  door  and  with  the  individuals  under  our 
own  roof,  may  easily  become  the  chief  difficulty  of  life. 
The  more  unlike  two  individuals  or  two  groups  are, 
the  more  difficult  their  adjustment  becomes.  The  more 
we  know  each  other  the  more  readily  we  may  under 
stand  each  other's  actions  and  motives,  and  the  oc 
casions  of  friction  often  decrease  as  this  mutual  un 
derstanding  increases. 

"When  it  comes  to  understanding  a  whole  people," 
said  Pastor  Schuster,  "we  need  to  know  something 
about  their  history.  The  first  Negroes  were  landed  in 
America  nearly  six  months  before  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
arrived,  in  1620.  Of  course  they  did  not  come  here 
voluntarily,  but  were  brought  as  slaves  direct  from 
Africa.  After  that  first  boat  landed  its  human  freight 
on  the  shores  of  Virginia  in  1619,  through  long  years 
other  boats  came  similarly  laden,  and  our  Negro  popu 
lation  grew  in  two  ways — by  importation  and  by  nat 
ural  increase.  When  the  slave  trade  was  stopped  the 
number  of  Negroes  continued  to  increase.  By  the  time 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  issued  in  1863 


36  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

we  had  nearly  four  million  Negroes  in  this  country. 
To-day  the  number  has  reached  ten  and  a  half  mil 
lions. 

"For  many  years  the  Negro  problem  was  largely  a 
Southern  problem.  It  did  not  trouble  the  North.  Now 
it  is  not  confined  to  any  one  section  of  the  country," 
the  preacher  reminded  them.  "In  fact,"  said  he,  "the 
largest  Negro  settlements  in  the  United  States  are  to 
day  in  the  North.  The  industrial  conditions  produced 
by  the  Great  War  brought  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Negroes  North,  and  many  of  them  have  come  to  stay. 
They  are  settled  in  many  places,  including  Delafield, 
as  we  have  been  forcibly  reminded  this  past  week.  Now 
we  see  that  Delafield  must  come  to  think  clearly  about 
this  situation  so  directly  thrust  before  us. 

"Repeatedly  it  has  been  proposed  to  end  the  Negro 
question  in  America  by  colonizing  all  American  Ne 
groes  in  Africa.  At  one  time  there  was  a  society  or 
ganized  for  that  purpose.  The  promoters  did  their 
best,  and  they  actually  established  the  state  of  Liberia 
on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  but  after  they  had  ex 
hausted  their  efforts  and  the  society  had  collapsed, 
America  had  many  more  Negroes  than  when  they  be 
gan.  Any  attempt  to  move  the  Negroes  gradually  to 
Africa  is  doomed  to  failure.  They  would  increase  in 
America  faster  than  ships  could  carry  them  away. 
Deportation  would  be  a  task  compared  to  which  the 
transportation  of  our  army  to  France,  with  its  un- 
computed  costs,  would  be  a  puny  enterprise.  By  its 
mere  size  and  expense  the  project  of  transporting  the 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  37 

Negro  to  Africa  is  forever  shut  out  of  the  realm  of 
possibility. 

"And  we  could  not  afford  to  ignore  the  injustice  of 
exiling  millions  of  unwilling  people,  whose  ancestry 
probably  averages  more  generations  in  this  country 
than  any  other  racial  group  except  the  American  In 
dian.  American  Negroes,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
born  in  the  West  Indies  and  similar  places,  are  native 
born.  That  can  not  be  said  of  any  other  race  group  of 
similar  size  in  our  population.  The  Negro  is  a  real 
American,  and  he  is  here  to  stay.  We  cannot  get  rid 
of  him  if  we  would,  and  we  would  not  if  we  could. 

"He  has  already  made  an  enormous  contribution  to 
our  national  life  in  a  multitude  of  ways,  and  he  will 
do  more  as  his  educational  opportunities  increase  and 
as  his  religious  standards  are  lifted." 

Now  the  preacher's  voice  took  on  a  deeper  note  of 
seriousness.  "In  spite,  however,  of  the  fact  that  the 
Negro  is  a  real  American,"  said  he,  "we  continue  to 
let  him  be  treated  as  less  than  a  man,  and  in  many  plans 
we  consent  that  he  shall  be  deprived  of  the  privileges 
of  citizenship.  I  think  we  must  admit  that  the  Negro 
is  not  given  to  complaining,  but  sometimes  he  speaks 
out. 

"A  few  years  ago  a  Negro  president  of  one  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  schools  for  colored  people  in  the 
South  said :  'When  I  went  away  to  school  I  was  taught 
that  God  is  our  Father.  I  was  taught  to  pray,  "Our 
Father,  who  art  in  heaven."  I  was  taught  that  God  is 
no  respecter  of  persons,  that  he  has  made  of  one  blood 


38  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

all  nations.  I  was  taught  that  our  country  guaranteed 
to  every  one  the  right  to  Life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness.  I  learned  the  famous  words,  "Give  me 
liberty  or  give  me  death."  Now,  I  obey  the  laws;  I 
love  my  neighbors ;  I  pay  my  taxes ;  I  preach  the  gospel 
of  good  will  and  usefulness;  I  turn  the  other  cheek. 
I  begged  twice  to  be  permitted  to  join  the  army.  I 
would  die  for  Old  Glory.  But  I  find,  with  that  noble 
Southern  white  man,  ex-Congressman  W.  H.  Fleming, 
that  "taxation  without  representation  is  unjust — except 
as  to  Negroes ;  equal  rights  to  all  and  special  privileges 
to  none  is  a  good  doctrine — except  as  to  Negroes;  all 
men  are  created  free  and  equal — except  as  to  Negroes ; 
this  is  a  government  of  the  people  and  by  the  people 
— except  as  to  Negroes."  I  am  taxed,  but  I  cannot 
vote.  I  was  in  a  Northern  city,  a  stranger  and  hungry. 
I  had  money.  There  was  an  abundance  of  food,  but  I 
was  compelled  to  feast  on  a  box  of  crackers  and  a  piece 
of  cheese.  I  did  not  ask  to  eat  with  white  people,  but 
I  did  ask  to  eat.  I  was  traveling.  I  got  off  at  a  station, 
almost  starved.  I  begged  a  restaurant  keeper  to  put  a 
lunch  in  a  sack  and  to  sell  it  to  me  out  of  the  window. 
He  refused.  I  was  obliged  to  travel  another  hundred 
miles  before  I  could  get  a  sandwich.'  And  then  he 
adds,  'It  is  true  that  I  feel  a  kind  of  soul  aristocracy, 
which  is  unruffled  by  many  discriminations  and  annoy 
ances.' 

"That,  my  friends,"  said  the  preacher,  impressively, 
"is  the  voice,  not  of  a  Bolshevist,  but  of  an  ardent 
patriot  who  loved  his  country,  but  who  grieved  to  see 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  39 

the  object  of  his  love  tolerating  injustice  to  millions  of 
devoted  citizens  because  of  the  color  of  the  skins  which 
God  had  seen  fit  to  give  them.  But  even  he  did  not 
mention  some  of  the  most  flagrant  abuses  which 
threaten  the  peace  and  safety  of  our  colored  fellow 
citizens. 

"Think  for  a  moment  of  the  evil  of  mob  violence. 
Even  in  our  own  well-ordered  town  within  a  few  days 
we  were  on  the  verge  of  doing  a  terrible  injustice  to  a 
man  who  proved  to  be  entirely  innocent  of  the  charge 
which  was  made  against  him.  But  suppose  he  had 
been  guilty?  Is  it  not  the  glory  of  our  country  that 
we  guarantee  a  fair  and  just  trial  even  to  the  criminal  ? 
For  many  years  our  country  has  been  cursed  with  lynch- 
ings.  During  the  last  generation,  since  accurate  rec 
ords  have  been  kept,  the  number  of  lynchings  in  the 
United  States  has  varied  from  fifty  to  two  hundred 
and  twenty- four  each  year,  and  while  some  of  the  vic 
tims  have  been  members  of  the  white  race,  the  most  of 
them  have  been  Negroes.  They  have  been  lynched  on 
almost  every  conceivable  pretext. 

"But  what  is  even  worse  than  the  killing  often  is  the 
fiendishness  with  which  it  is  done.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  in  1919  a  member  of  the  British  House  of  Com 
mons  proposed  that  a  commission  be  appointed  to  visit 
the  United  States  to  investigate  the  treatment  of  the 
American  Negro?  What  can  America  say  against 
atrocities  elsewhere  when  such  things  are  permitted 
here? 

"It  was  not  long  ago  that  a  noted  English  writer 


40  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

came  to  this  country  and  spent  months  in  studying  the 
Negro  situation  here.  He  described  conditions  which 
he  found  and  events  which  he  witnessed  and  which 
came  to  his  attention.  In  many  cases  the  facts  were 
too  revolting  to  be  put  into  words.  Then  he  added: 
'It  was  America's  glorious  May,  when  she  was  pouring 
troops  into  Europe  and  winning  the  war;  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  Negroes  were  clad  in  the  uniform  of  the 
army  and  were  fighting  for  "freedom  and  justice"  in 
Europe.  The  moral  eloquence  of  the  President  was  in 
all  men's  minds.  America  had  the  chance  to  take  the 
moral  leadership  of  the  world.'  Later  he  adds :  'The 
point  is  that  America  as  a  whole  cannot  afford  to 
tolerate  what  is  done  locally  in  particular  States.  The 
baleful  happenings  in  these  States  rob  Americans  in 
other  States  of  their  good  name,  and  spoil  America's 
reputation  before  the  world.  The  fact  that  the  terms 
of  the  Constitution  are  not  carried  out  decreases  the 
value  of  American  citizenship  throughout.  And  the 
growing  scandal  causes  America's  opinions  on  world 
politics  to  be  seriously  discounted.' ' 

The  sermon  was  longer  than  usual,  and  though  no 
one  seemed  to  take  notice  of  the  time,  the  preacher 
felt  he  must  make  an  end.  "Before  I  close,"  he  said, 
"I  must  add  a  word  relative  to  the  malicious  lies  which 
are  circulating  concerning  the  naturally  criminal  char 
acter  of  the  Negro.  There  are,  of  course,  many  bad 
Negroes,  just  as  there  are  many  bad  white  men,  and 
they  should  be  treated  with  equal  severity.  Of  the 
record  of  the  Negro  as  a  race,  however,  we  perhaps 


A  CRISIS  IN  DELAFIELD  41 

have  no  better  testimony  than  that  famous  tribute 
of  a  Southern  statesman  and  journalist,  Henry  W. 
Grady.  Speaking  of  the  period  during  the  Civil  War 
he  said,  'History  has  no  parallel  to  the  faith  kept  by 
the  Negro  during  the  war.  Often  five  hundred  Negroes 
to  a  single  white  man,  yet  through  these  dusky  throngs 
the  women  and  children  passed  in  safety,  and  unpro 
tected  homes  rested  in  peace.  A  thousand  torches  in 
black  hands  would  have  disbanded  every  Southern  army 
— not  one  was  lighted.  When  freedom  came  to  him 
after  years  of  waiting  it  was  all  the  sweeter  because 
the  black  hands  from  which  the  shackles  fell  were 
stainless  of  a  single  crime  against  the  helpless  women 
and  children  committed  to  their  care.' ' 

There  were  other  things  in  the  sermon  that  morning, 
and  many  dinners  were  late  that  day  as  a  result.  But 
not  an  individual  left  until  the  end;  and  when  the  bene 
diction  was  pronounced  the  audience  dispersed  more 
quietly  than  usual.  It  seemed  that  every  one  had 
plenty  to  think  about,  and  for  once  they  were  really 
thinking. 

J.  W.  and  Jeannette  walked  nearly  a  block  before 
either  of  them  spoke,  then  J.  W.  said :  "Well,  I  didn't 
know  I  was  so  ignorant.  I  learned  more  things  this 
morning  about  the  Negro  situation  than  I  ever  knew 
before.  I  hadn't  realized  that  it  was  such  a  mixed-up 
question.  I  guess  we  are  a  long  ways  from  the  practi 
cal  application  of  the  religion  of  justice  of  which  the 
minister  spoke.  I  suspect  that  right  here  in  Delafield 
many  unfair  things  are  being  done  and  unjust  condi- 


42  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

tions  permitted  to  exist,  just  because  people  like  us 
don't  stop  to  think  and  apply  the  religions  we  profess." 
"I've  no  doubt  you  are  right,"  acquiesced  Jeannette, 
whose  mind  for  the  moment  was  upon  the  problem  of 
the  first  real  Sunday  dinner  in  the  new  home,  rather 
than  upon  the  Negro  problem  of  Delafield. 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  COTTON  AND  THE  CANE 


CHAPTER  II 

GETTING  ACQUAINTED  WITH  SOME  NEW 
NEIGHBORS 

JE ANNETTE  and  J.  W.  were  still  at  the  breakfast 
table  Monday  morning  when  they  were  interrupted  by 
a  gentle  rapping  at  the  kitchen  door.  Jeannette  went 
to  the  door,  and  found  there  a  plainly  but  neatly- 
dressed  colored  woman  who  inquired,  "Is  this  Mrs. 
Farwell?" 

"It  is,"  said  Jeannette,  although  she  was  herself  a 
little  surprised  at  the  promptness  of  her  answer,  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  she  was  not  yet  quite  used  to  "Mrs. 
Farwell." 

"I  am  Stella  Waldron,"  said  the  woman.  "My  pas 
tor,  Brother  Driver,  said  you  were  looking  for  some 
help." 

"Yes,  I  am,"  answered  Jeannette.  "Won't  you  come 
right  in  and  sit  down?  I'll  be  through  with  breakfast 
in  a  minute  and  then  we  can  talk." 

"Your  friend,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Driver,  is  certainly 
prompt  in  keeping  his  promises,"  said  Jeannette,  as  she 
rejoined  J.  W.  at  the  table. 

"He  told  me  quite  a  good  many  of  his  people  are  out 
of  work  just  now,  and  I  guess  he  is  anxious  to  help 
them,"  answered  J.  W. 

43 


44  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"I  hope  you  have  a  good  day,"  he  continued.  He 
rather  "sensed"  a  busy  time  in  the  home  too.  "I  have 
plenty  to  do  down  at  the  store  to-day,  and  probably  I 
won't  be  home  for  lunch.  But  you  can  count  on  my 
being  home  early  to-night,  instead,"  he  added,  as  he 
rose  from  the  table  and  prepared  to  depart. 

Every  day  was  a  busy  day  at  the  store  of  the  J.  W. 
Farwell  Hardware  Company,  but  J.  W.,  Jr.,  was  in 
love  with  his  business,  and  the  livelier  things  moved 
the  happier  he  was.  On  this  morning  the  hardware 
world  looked  particularly  good  to  him,  and  he  gave 
himself  to  its  various  activities  with  unusual  zest. 

Along  about  the  middle  of  the  forenoon  he  had  oc 
casion  to  make  a  trip  to  the  freight  station,  and  he 
climbed  up  to  the  seat  beside  one  of  the  Negro  truck 
drivers  who  was  going  that  way. 

"You're  a  new  man,  aren't  you?"  said  J.  W.  as  they 
drove  out  of  the  yard. 

"Yes,  I've  only  been  working  for  the  J.  W.  Farwell 
people  a  short  time,"  said  the  Negro. 

"What  is  your  name  ?"  asked  J.  W. 

"Me?  My  name's  Mose — Mose  Adams,"  he  an 
swered. 

"And  where  did  you  come  from?"  continued  J.  W. 

"I  came  from  Mississippi,  away  down  South  in  the 
land  of  cotton,"  said  the  Negro,  chuckling  to  himself, 
as  he  spoke. 

"Didn't  you  like  Mississippi?"  J.  W.   persisted. 

"Oh,  yes,  I  like  Mississippi  all  right,"  the  other  as 
sented. 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  45 

"Then  why  did  you  leave  and  come  up  here?"  said 
J.  W.,  with  his  new  interest  in  the  Negro  situation  sup 
plementing  a  healthy  natural  curiosity. 

"Well,  I  don't  know  as  I  can  rightly  say,"  said  the 
Negro.  "You  see,  I  was  born  and  raised  down  there. 
My  father  was  a  slave,  and  after  the  war  he  bought  a 
little  piece  of  land  right  close  to  where  he  had  always 
lived.  We  all  grew  up  there,  and  it  was  home  to  us. 
Late  years,  though,  things  began  to  change.  Finally 
two  Negroes  and  two  white  men  got  to  fighting  and 
one  of  the  white  men  was  killed. 

"But  that  wasn't  the  end  of  the  story.  The  two  Ne 
groes  ran  away  and  escaped,  but  a  mob  gathered  and 
they  drove  every  Negro  out  of  the  country  for  miles 
around.  It  didn't  make  any  difference  that  we  had 
lived  there  all  our  lives  and  had  our  homes  there;  we 
just  had  to  leave." 

Up  to  this  point  J.  W.  had  listened  intently  to  the 
matter-of-fact  recital  of  what  seemed  in  many  respects 
a  very  unusual  story.  Now  he  interrupted:  "I  can 
hardly  believe  that  you  are  telling  me  the  truth." 

"It's  true,  all  right,"  said  Mose  Adams ;  "I  know,  for 
I  was  there." 

"Didn't  any  of  the  white  folks  make  objection?" 
asked  J.  W. 

"Yes,"  said  the  driver,  "the  storekeepers  and  other 
business  men  in  town  finally  put  a  stop  to  it,  for  the 
Negroes  were  the  biggest  part  of  their  customers,  and 
their  trade  was  being  ruined." 

"But  they  couldn't  take  your  land  away  from  you, 


46  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

even  if  they  could  drive  you  off  from  it!"  J.  W.  sug 
gested. 

"They  might  about  as  well,"  the  driver  declared. 
"They  wouldn't  let  us  live  on  it,  and  they  wouldn't  let 
us  sell  it  to  other  Negroes.  So  we  had  to  sell  for  just 
what  the  first  white  man  offered  us,  and  that  wasn't 
much,  I  can  tell  you.  And  as  for  the  Negro  school  and 
the  church  in  the  community,  they  were  wiped  out  of 
existence;  there  just  weren't  any  more  Negroes  left." 

"What  did  you  and  your  family  do?"  said  J.  W. 

"At  first  we  just  didn't  know  what  to  do,  but  by  and 
by  we  decided  to  move  up  to  Birmingham,  Alabama, 
and  try  living  in  the  city,"  answered  the  driver. 

"Did  you  like  it  better  there?"  was  J.  W.'s  next 
question. 

"Well,  I  got  a  job  in  a  coal  mine,  and  I  was 
earning  more  money  than  ever  before,  and  then  they 
put  me  in  jail." 

"What  did  you  do  to  get  into  jail?"  ejaculated  J.  W. 

"I  didn't  do  anything,"  the  Negro  said,  stolidly. 
"There  was  a  little  trouble  and  the  sheriff  just  came 
out  and  took  about  fifty  of  us  away  to  board.  That's 
the  way  he  made  his  money." 

"I  don't  see  how  he  made  any  money  out  of  that," 
said  J.  W. 

"Well,  he  made  it,  all  right.  The  law  allowed  him 
thirty  cents  a  day  for  boarding  each  prisoner,  and  he 
fed  us  for  ten  cents  a  day.  I  heard  that  one  sheriff 
made  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  one  year  just  board 
ing  prisoners." 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  47 

"Well,  it  sounds  like  a  profitable  business,"  said 
J.  W.,  "but  it  must  have  been  rather  hard  on  the  pris 
oners.  I  wouldn't  care  to  go  to  jail  just  for  the  benefit 
of  the  sheriff,  and  I  certainly  wouldn't  care  to  be 
boarded  for  ten  cents  a  day." 

"It  was  hard  on  us,  but  it  was  hard  on  the  mine  boss 
too.  He  couldn't  keep  his  men,  because  the  sheriff  had 
them  in  jail  all  the  time." 

"I  shouldn't  think  the  employers  would  have  stood 
for  that,"  said  J.  W. 

"Well,  they  did  fight  the  system,  but  it  took  them 
eight  years  to  get  it  stopped,"  said  the  Negro. 

"I  suppose  you  left  as  soon  as  you  were  out  of  jail," 
continued  J.  W. 

"No,"  said  the  driver,  "not  right  off.  I  got  another 
job  after  that,  but  we  began  to  hear  about  the  good 
times  up  North.  The  more  we  heard  the  more  we 
wanted  to  come.  There  was  a  paper  from  Chicago 
we  used  to  get  hold  of  and  read  and  read.  It  told  all 
about  the  high  wages  and  the  freedom  and  the  good 
schools.  And  then  the  colored  folks  began  to  leave. 
After  quite  a  few  had  left  the  white  folks  decided  they 
didn't  want  the  Negroes  to  go,  because  they  needed  us 
to  do  the  work." 

"But  what  could  they  do  to  hold  you?"  J.  W.  asked, 
incredulously. 

"Lots,"  the  driver  answered.  "In  one  city  they 
called  out  the  police,  and  arrested  Negroes  who  tried 
to  purchase  railroad  tickets;  in  other  places  they  took 
people  forcibly  from  the  trains;  one  mayor  wired  to 


48  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

the  president  of  a  great  railroad  and  asked  him  to  stop 
the  selling  of  tickets  to  Negroes.  There  was  a  lot  of 
talk,  but  we  kept  right  on  wanting  to  go.  After  a  while 
my  boy  went  to  work  with  the  Pullman  Company,  and 
he  sent  me  some  money,  and  I  slipped  away  and  came 
up.  When  I  got  located  and  got  a  job  I  sent  for  the 
whole  family,  and  so  here  we  are." 

"Sure  enough,  here  we  are,"  said  J.  W.  as  the  truck 
suddenly  stopped  at  the  freight  house  door. 

This  truck-seat  talk  with  Mose  Adams  rather  stuck 
in  J.  W.'s  mind,  and  he  came  back  to  it  many  times 
during  the  afternoon.  "That  man's  story  would  make 
a  book  in  itself,"  he  thought,  "and  yet  he  seems  to  take 
it  all  as  a  matter  of  course.  I  wonder  if  every  Negro 
who  has  come  into  Delafield  has  a  story.  Probably  so, 
and  maybe  some  of  them  more  interesting  and  thrilling 
than  Mose's." 

Some  way  he  had  scarcely  thought  much  about  them 
as  individuals  before,  with  individual  problems,  and 
sometimes  individual  tragedies  as  well.  They  didn't 
seem  to  be  so  different  from  other  folks,  but  he  guessed 
they  had  more  difficulties  to  contend  with  than  people 
like  himself  who  were  born  in  comfortable  homes  and 
had  so  much  done  for  them. 

J.  W.  was  still  meditating  as  he  made  his  way  home 
ward,  but  the  sight  of  Jeannette  coming  to  meet  him 
turned  his  thoughts  into  other  and  pleasanter  channels. 
"Surely,"  thought  he,  "I  am  the  most  fortunate  man 
in  the  world." 

At  the  supper  table  Jeannette  said,  "I  told  Stella  that 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  49 

if  she  would  stay  and  wash  the  dishes,  we  would  take 
her  home  after  supper." 

"And  what's  to  hinder  our  going  for  a  little  drive 
ourselves  ?"  queried  her  husband. 

"Nothing  at  all,"  acquiesced  Jeannette,  without  tak 
ing  the  trouble  to  explain  that  this  was  exactly  the  idea 
which  she  had  in  mind. 

"By  the  way,"  said  J.  W.,  "I  got  acquainted  with  one 
of  our  Negro  truck  drivers  down  at  the  store  to-day, 
a  new  man.  He's  had  quite  a  life.  I  learned  a  lot  of 
things  from  him." 

So  he  told  her  the  story  of  Mose  Adams. 

Jeannette  listened  to  the  end,  and  then  she  laughed. 
"That  sermon  Sunday  must  have  given  us  all  a  new 
interest  in  our  colored  neighbors.  I've  been  pumping 
Stella  all  day,  and  like  you  I  learned  things  which  I 
never  knew  before." 

"All  right,"  said  J.  W.,  "story  for  story  is  fair. 
Let's  have  Stella's." 

"Well,"  said  Jeannette,  not  to  be  outdone,  "it  seems 
that  she  has  lived  most  of  her  life  in  Morristown,  Ten 
nessee.  Her  father  and  mother  were  both  slaves 
there.  After  emancipation  they  attended  a  school  es 
tablished  in  the  town  by  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  they  learned  to 
read  and  write.  Even  her  father's  father  went  to  night 
school  there  at  the  same  time,  although  he  was  an  old 
man.  He  didn't  get  very  far,  of  course,  but  he  learned 
to  read  a  little.  When  Stella  got  big  enough  she  at 
tended  this  school  too  and  finished  the  tenth  grade. 


SO  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

She  taught  school  for  a  year  or  two,  and  then  she  mar 
ried  a  man  named  Waldron.  They  got  along  pretty 
well,  and  they  bought  a  little  home  in  Morristown. 
Three  years  ago  the  husband  died,  and  Stella  was  left 
with  two  girls.  They  are  both  students  now  at  Morris- 
town  Normal  and  Industrial  Academy,  the  same  school 
that  their  mother  and  father  and  their  grandmother 
and  grandfather  and  their  great-grandfather  attended. 
Of  course  the  school  has  grown  since  those  early  days, 
but  isn't  it  interesting  that  so  many  generations  of  a 
single  family  should  have  attended  this  one  school  ?" 

"How  does  she  happen  to  be  so  far  away  from  her 
children?"  J.  W.  wanted  to  know. 

"Why,"  Jeannette  explained,  "she  has  a  sister  in 
Morristown  who  takes  care  of  the  girls,  and  she  is  up 
here  earning  money  to  send  them  to  school.  She  wants 
them  to  graduate  from  the  normal  department  and 
take  up  teaching.  She  lives  with  friends  up  here,  and 
she  goes  back  to  Tennessee  for  several  months  each 
year." 

"That  was  what  the  colored  folk  would  call  a  power 
ful  sermon  last  Sunday,"  J.  W.  said,  musingly.  "If 
it  hadn't  been  for  that  sermon,  neither  of  us  would 
have  paid  much  attention  to  our  truck-driver  and  laun 
dress." 

"You're  right,"  said  Jeannette,  "I  suppose  I  wouldn't 
even  have  cared,  but  I  am  interested  now,  all  right." 

After  taking  Stella  Waldron  home  J.  W.  decided  to 
drive  past  the  Saint  Mark's  parsonage  and  thank  Pas 
tor  Driver  for  his  courtesy  in  finding  them  some  help. 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  51 

The  minister  was  in  his  front  yard  as  they  drove  up, 
and  he  came  out  to  the  walk.  After  both  the  Far  wells 
had  spoken  their  thanks,  J.  W.  changed  the  subject. 

"Our  pastor  preached  us  quite  a  sermon  last  Sun 
day,"  said  he,  "on  the  old-fashioned  gospel  of  justice 
as  applied  to  the  relation  between  black  men  and  white 
men  in  America.  I  learned  a  lot.  I  confess  that  I 
hadn't  realized  that  there  was  so  much  cause  for  se 
rious  and  careful  concern." 

"Yes,  there  is  a  good  deal  of  trouble  coming  up  all 
the  time,"  said  Alexander  Driver.  "Of  course  it's 
worse  in  some  sections  than  in  others." 

"Well,  what  do  you  think  is  to  be  the  outcome  of  it 
all?"  said  J.  W. 

"I  don't  know.  Nobody  does.  But  I'm  a  natural  op 
timist,"  said  the  pastor,  "and  so  I  just  naturally  believe 
that,  everything  considered,  there's  a  steady  improve 
ment.  One  thing  I  know :  all  sorts  of  changes  are  hap 
pening;  and  while  some  of  these  changes  are  discour 
aging,  I  think  more  are  pretty  encouraging.  Ignorance 
is  the  big  trouble,  on  both  sides.  If  the  black  man  and 
the  white  man  understood  each  other  better,  some  of 
the  worst  difficulties  would  smooth  themselves  out." 

"You're  right  about  blaming  ignorance  for  a  good 
deal,"  J.  W.  confessed.  "That's  my  fix.  What  I 
don't  know  about  the  matter  would  fill  a  big  book. 
But  the  whole  thing  is  so  new  to  me." 

"In  the  South,"  the  preacher  replied,  "things  have 
changed  enormously  in  the  last  few  years.  Slavery 
was  a  terrible  thing,  even  at  its  best,  and  it 


52  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

usually  wasn't  at  its  best,  but  it  did  bring  the 
Negro  and  the  white  man  into  close  touch  with 
each  other.  The  slave  understood  the  master  and  the 
master  understood  the  slave.  The  children  of  the 
master  and  of  the  slave  played  together  and  grew  up 
together.  Now  all  that  is  changed,  and  there  seems  to 
be  a  great  gulf  fixed  between  the  younger  generation 
of  the  two  races.  An  entirely  new  and  different  sort 
of  Negro  has  been  produced  by  what  education  could 
be  had,  by  practical  experience  in  business  and  in  the 
professions  and  arts.  This  new  Negro  has  learned  a 
new  respect  for  his  race,  and  a  new  sense  of  racial 
unity.  Some  folks  think  that  they  can  deal  with  the 
new  generation  the  way  they  dealt  with  the  old,  and  it 
doesn't  work.  The  Negro  has  for  a  long  time  been  the 
child-man  of  the  South ;  now  he  is  beginning  to  grow 
up.  He  is  still  of  the  South,  mostly,  but  it  will  be  fatal 
to  continue  to  treat  him  as  a  child." 

J.  W.  interrupted :  "I  wish  you  would  tell  me  what 
you  mean  by  that." 

The  pastor  smiled.  "Let  me  illustrate,"  said  he. 
"A  great  leader  and  orator  in  the  South  where  it  has 
for  years  been  the  boast  that  'We  understand  the  nig 
ger,5  said  recently  from  the  platform,  'Yes,  my  friends, 
we  understand  the  nigger ;  but  I  am  afraid  we  do  not 
understand  the  Negro/  ' 

And  Pastor  Driver  smjiled  again,  though  rather 
sadly,  as  he  said,  "Brother  Farwell,  that's  the  point. 
The  Negro  doesn't  care  to  force  himself  upon  the  white 
man ;  he  is  not  mourning  that  the  white  man  does  not 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  53 

invite  the  colored  man  into  his  home;  he  recognizes 
the  right  of  every  man  to  choose  his  guests  and  asso 
ciates;  nor  is  the  Negro  seeking  to  marry  the  white 
man's  daughter.  What  he  does  want,  however,  is  the 
chance  to  live  his  own  life  as  a  self-respecting  citizen  of 
the  United  States;  he  wants  the  privilege  of  living, 
working,  voting,  holding  property,  paying  taxes,  send 
ing  his  children  to  school,  selecting  his  own  friends, 
and  conducting  the  other  normal  activities  of  life  with 
the  same  sense  of  personal  safety  and  public  regard  as 
is  taken  for  granted  by  citizens  of  other  complexions. 
Some  white  men  don't  seem  to  understand  this,  or  else 
they  misrepresent  the  case  by  claiming  that  the  Negro 
wants  something  more  than  this,  as  well  as  something 
quite  different." 

"Isn't  there  some  way  for  the  two  races  to  be  brought 
into  touch  with  each  other,  so  that  some  of  their  mis 
understandings  could  be  ironed  out  before  there  is  a 
worse  estrangement  ?"  asked  J.  W. 

"Yes,  there  is  a  plan  for  doing  exactly  that  thing," 
said  Alexander  Driver.  "It  has  already  been  put  into 
operation  in  many  places,  in  the  South  particularly, 
and  it  has  a  heap  of  encouragement  in  it  just  now.  The 
plan  calls  for  the  organization  of  'Interracial  Coun 
cils.'  These  councils  are  nothing  more  than  commit 
tees  made  up  of  the  best  available  representatives  of 
both  races.  They  take  hold  of  difficulties  when  they 
arise,  and  also  they  go  into  conditions  which  are  likely 
to  develop  into  difficulties  if  let  alone.  Since  fair- 
minded  men  of  both  races  are  in  these  councils,  they 


54  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

get  the  knowledge  and  viewpoint  of  whites  as  well  as 
blacks." 

"There's  something  in  that  idea,"  said  J.  W.  "What's 
to  hinder  our  having  something  like  that  in  this  town  ?" 

"It  certainly  would  be  a  great  help  to  me  in  my 
work,  if  you'll  let  me  seem  to  speak  selfishly,"  said 
Alexander  Driver.  "Of  course  the  relations  of  the 
races  aren't  nearly  so  tense  here  as  they  are  in  hundreds 
of  other  towns,  and  yet  there  are  half  a  dozen  matters 
right  now  that  I  would  like  to  bring  before  such  a 
committee." 

J.  W.  was  all  for  prompt  action.  "Why  couldn't  we 
get  a  thing  like  that  started  right  away?"  he  said.  "It 
might  save  us  some  time  from  a  race  riot  such  as  so 
many  communities  have  had,  and  as  we  might  have 
had  here  the  other  night.  At  least  it  would  help  the 
Negroes  to  get  fair  treatment,  as  well  as  to  understand 
the  white  folks  here  in  Delafield." 

"I'm  ready  to  do  my  part,"  said  Alexander  Driver, 
quietly. 

"Could  you  get  four  or  five  really  representative  Ne 
groes  together  to  meet  an  equal  number  of  white  men, 
and  talk  this  thing  over  ?"  J.  W.  asked  him. 

"I  think  I  could,"  said  the  preacher. 

"Well,  I'll  see  my  pastor  about  it  right  away  and  let 
you  know  within  a  day  or  two,"  said  J.  W. 

"I'm  inclined  to  think  that  we're  going  to  get  some 
thing  started,"  he  added,  as  he  said  good-night  to  Pas 
tor  Driver  and  drove  away. 

For  the  rest  of  the  evening  Jeannette  and  J.  W. 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  55 

gave  themselves  to  the  delights  of  the  full-mooned  au 
tumn  night.  There  would  be  many  nights  when  J.  W. 
would  be  out  on  the  road,  and  even  to-night  their  al 
most  perfect  happiness  was  touched  with  sobering 
thoughts  of  the  future.  They  took  a  wide  circuit  into 
the  country  and  swung  back  through  the  tree-shadowed 
roads,  refreshed  and  quiet  of  heart. 

The  next  day  J.  W.  let  the  store  do  without  him  while 
he  sought  out  his  new  pastor,  the  Rev.  Conrad  Schus 
ter.  To  that  practical  and  understanding  brother  he 
rehearsed  his  talk  with  the  colored  minister.  He  found 
Conrad  Schuster  in  full  accord  with  the  suggestion  of 
an  interracial  committee,  and  before  long  these  two 
had  made  out  a  list  of  men  who,  they  thought,  would 
be  worth  most  for  such  a  service. 

"If  we  had  a  Federation  of  Churches  in  Delafield,  we 
might  turn  the  entire  responsibility  of  organization 
over  to  it,"  said  Brother  Schuster.  "But  as  it  is,  I  guess 
we'll  just  have  to  move  forward  ourselves.  We  must, 
however,  make  this  more  than  a  Methodist  movement." 

And  so  they  decided  to  invite  six  white  citizens  and 
to  ask  Alexander  Driver  to  invite  six  Negroes.  They 
fixed  on  Thursday  evening  for  the  first  meeting.  Pas 
tor  Schuster  was  to  talk  to  three  of  the  men,  while 
J.  W.  was  to  see  the  other  three,  and  meanwhile  to  re 
port  to  Alexander  Driver. 

In  this  simple  fashion  the  plan  was  launched.  On 
Thursday  evening,  quite  unsuspected  by  Delafield  in 
general,  a  meeting  took  place  the  like  of  which  had  not 
been  seen  there  before.  Six  self-possessed  and  quiet 


56  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

Negroes  sat  down  with  an  equal  number  of  thought 
ful  white  men  to  talk  frankly  and  fairly  about  the  re 
lations  between  the  white  and  the  black  races  in  Dela- 
field. 

J.  W.  was  made  temporary  chairman  of  the  meeting, 
and  he  briefly  explained  its  occasion  and  purpose.  He 
was  no  orator,  but  he  was  not  afraid  of  hearing  his 
own  voice. 

"During  the  last  few  days,"  said  he,  "we  have  had 
our  attention  sharply  called  to  a  condition  which  ex 
ists  in  Delafield.  We  cannot  close  our  eyes  to  it 
just  because  the  trouble  is  over  for  the  moment.  A 
few  of  the  roughest  men  in  town  were  on  the  point  of 
bringing  lasting  disgrace  upon  Delafield.  That  inci 
dent  was  merely  a  symptom  of  the  friction  which  ex 
ists  between  the  black  and  the  white  races  here,  and  for 
which  there  must  be  a  cause,  perhaps  many  causes. 

"We  are  met  here  to-night  quite  informally.  We 
have  no  authority.  But  together  we  have  a  certain 
amount  of  influence.  And,  if  we  act  wisely,  I  believe 
that  the  dozen  of  us  here  to-night  can  accomplish  al 
most  anything  in  Delafield  that  we  can  agree  is  desir 
able.  I  am  told  that  other  communities,  particularly 
in  the  South,  where  there  are  many  Negroes,  have  or 
ganized  what  are  known  as  'Interracial  Councils,'  and 
that  they  have  proved  to  be  very  useful  in  creating  a 
mutual  understanding  and  respect  between  the  white 
man  and  the  Negro.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  we 
ought  to  organize  such  a  council,  but  first  I  believe  we 
ought  to  look  at  the  facts.  I  would  suggest  that  to- 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  57 

night  we  try  to  discover  some  of  the  things  that  are 
wrong,  and  what  can  be  done  to  right  them." 

There  was  a  general  murmur  of  assent,  so  J.  W. 
went  on :  "If  there  is  no  objection,  we  will  proceed  on 
that  basis.  We  have  men  here  who  understand  and 
who  can  tell  us  the  facts.  I  think  they  may  be  counted 
on  to  speak  frankly.  If  we  learn  the  facts,  we  may  be 
able  to  find  a  solution  for  the  difficulties  and  avoid 
their  repetition.  With  your  permission,  I  will  call  upon 
the  Rev.  Alexander  Driver,  pastor  of  Saint  Mark's 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  to  speak  first." 

The  Rev.  Alexander  Driver  arose.  He  was  of  the 
new  generation  of  Negroes;  his  bearing  was  manly, 
his  education  plainly  adequate,  and  his  speech  direct. 

"Friends,"  said  he,  "the  very  fact  that  you  are  here 
to-night  gives  me  courage  to  call  you  'friends.'  This 
is  a  new  experience  for  me.  Never  before  have  I  had 
a  chance  to  meet  a  group  like  this,  made  up  of  mem 
bers  of  both  the  white  and  black  races,  met  together 
to  discuss  questions  that  affect  the  two  races  alike. 
As  a  pastor  I  have  opportunities  to  see  much  and  hear 
much.  I  could  tell  you  many  things,  but  I  will  confine 
myself  to  three  topics.  They  are  realities  among  my 
people.  Of  course  I  do  not  speak  in  a  spirit  of  com 
plaint,  but  to  bring  before  you  some  of  the  causes  of 
irritation  and  friction  as  they  appear  among  the  Ne 
groes  of  Delafield. 

"In  the  first  place,  let  me  mention  housing  condi 
tions.  Possibly  you  do  not  altogether  realize  what  a 
difficult  time  it  has  been  to  find  places  where  our  peo- 


58  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

pie  might  live.  We  can  not  go  anywhere  in  town  and 
rent  places,  as  white  people  can.  People  will  not  rent 
or  sell  to  us.  That  fact  confines  us  to  our  particular 
section,  as  you  know.  This  would  not  be  so  bad,  if 
there  were  enough  decent  places  for  our  people  in 
what  you  know  as  the  Black  Belt.  But  it's  not  so. 
Agents  charge  enormous  rentals  for  places  with  no  im 
provements;  places  which  they  refuse  to  keep  in  a 
respectable  state  of  repair.  Two  or  more  families  are 
often  forced  to  live  where  only  one  should  be.  Over 
crowding,  lack  of  sanitation,  and  other  bad  conditions 
are  allowed  to  exist.  The  sanitary  and  other  similar 
regulations  which  the  city  insists  on  enforcing  strictly 
in  other  parts  of  town  are  a  dead  letter  in  our  section. 
And  yet  an  epidemic  started  in  our  section  by  that 
neglect  might  easily  spread  over  all  of  Delafield.  We 
need  relief,  both  through  the  extension  of  housing  fa 
cilities  and  through  the  enforcement  of  existing  sani 
tary  and  housing  regulations. 

"In  the  next  place  we  need  a  different  attitude  on 
the  part  of  our  white  neighbors.  We  do  not  wish  to 
push  in  where  we  are  not  wanted,  but  our  people  must 
live  somewhere.  In  several  cases  the  houses  into  which 
Negroes  have  moved  have  been  burned  or  bombed,  but 
no  one  has  ever  been  brought  to  justice  for  these  of 
fenses. 

"In  the  factories  too  our  people  are  having  an  in 
creasingly  difficult  time.  During  the  Great  War  black 
labor  was  eagerly  welcomed,  and  many  Negroes  re 
sponded  to  the  call  for  men.  Now,  very  often,  skilled 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  59 

workmen  who  have  made  a  place  for  themselves  are 
forced  out  of  their  positions  by  the  attitude  of  the 
white  workmen.  This  is  not  only  an  injustice  to  the 
individual  and  his  family,  but  also  it  sows  the  seed  of 
further  irritation. 

"We  have  thought  sometimes  that,  if  leading  white 
men  such  as  are  in  this  room  to-night,  would  use  their 
influence  with  the  employers  of  labor  and  with  the 
labor  leaders  here  in  Delafield,  much  of  this  unfair 
treatment  could  be  stopped,  and  colored  workmen  might 
hope  to  keep  some  of  the  positions  which  they  have 
worked  so  hard  to  reach,  and  for  which  they  are  quali 
fied  in  every  particular  except  the  color  of  their  skins. 

"I  will  speak  of  only  one  other  matter,  and  that  is 
the  question  of  unlawful  resorts  in  our  part  of  town. 
These  places  are  owned  and  sponsored  by  white  people, 
but  they  are  patronized  by  colored  folk  who  do  not 
find  their  homes  any  too  attractive  and  who  easily  fall 
into  the  snares  set  for  them.  We  have  tried  to  have 
the  responsible  officials  close  up  these  places,  but  our 
influence  does  not  seem  to  count  for  much.  Of  course 
we  realize  that  to  shut  up  such  places  is  only  a  negative 
measure.  We  need  opportunities  of  wholesome  recrea 
tion  for  our  people.  To  some  extent  we  are  actually 
trying  to  do  this,  through  the  church.  But  we  need  a 
far  more  adequate  staff  and  program  if  we  are  to  do 
the  work  which  ought  to  be  done.  The  net  result  is 
that  our  race  is  given  a  bad  name  because  unlawful 
conditions  have  been  created,  for  profit,  in  our  part 
of  town.  We  are  unable  to  have  the  evil  stopped,  or  to 


60  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

do  what  we  would  like  to  do,  and  what  ought  to  be 
done,  in  supplying  a  constructive  program  to  take  the 
place  of  these  hangouts. 

"I  would  like  to  say  many  other  things,  but  there  are 
others  to  be  heard,  and  I  must  stop." 

In  turn  the  other  colored  men  were  called  upon  to 
speak.  They  were  not  in  a  complaining  mood ;  the  oc 
casion  was  against  that.  But  they  evidently  welcomed 
the  opportunity  to  speak  out.  The  superintendent  of 
the  school  in  the  colored  section  of  the  town  told  of 
the  overcrowded  schoolrooms,  the  lack  of  equipment, 
and  the  difficulty  of  getting  necessary  support  at  the 
hands  of  the  school  board.  Another  man  told  of  fric 
tion  which  had  arisen  from  time  to  time  on  the  street 
cars  when  conductors  had  been  disagreeable  to  their 
colored  passengers,  and  quick  resentment  had  led  to 
angry  altercations.  Other  men  spoke  of  other  points 
of  possible  danger,  or  at  least  of  probable  misunder 
standing. 

When  the  colored  men  had  all  spoken,  J.  W.  called 
upon  the  white  men  to  speak.  Each  speaker  followed 
his  own  bent,  but  a  prominent  Christian  business  man 
summed  the  matter  up  well  when  he  said :  "This  eve 
ning  has  been  a  revelation  to  me.  I  hadn't  realized  that 
we  had  so  many  unsatisfactory  situations  here  in  Dela- 
field,  and  I  confess,  I  didn't  know  the  Negroes  of  our 
town  had  such  intelligent  leaders  and  spokesmen." 

Then  he  paused ;  his  mind  was  busy  with  the  varying 
aspects  of  the  whole  case. 

"Some  of  the  situations  which  have  been  described 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  61 

here,"  he  conceded,  "cannot  be  changed  quickly;  they 
are  too  deep-seated  for  that.  It  will  take  patience  and 
education  to  do  anything  with  them.  But  some  of  the 
others,  I  believe,  can  be  changed  as  soon  as  we  make 
up  our  minds  that  it  is  time  to  act.  Our  Chamber  of 
Commerce  has  enough  influence  at  the  city  hall  to  see 
that  unlawful  resorts  are  closed  up.  We  can  even  make 
sure  that  housing  regulations  are  enforced,  and  that 
unsanitary  conditions  are  done  away.  I  am  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Chamber,  and  I  will  be  responsible  for 
seeing  that  these  matters  are  reported  to  it." 

He  smiled  a  bit  as  he  remembered  another  of  his 
business  relationships.  "And,  by  the  way,  I  am  also  a 
stockholder  in  our  street  railway  company.  If  we  have 
conductors  who  are  treating  colored  passengers  un 
civilly,  it  is  very  much  my  business  to  see  that  it  is 
stopped.  It  is  bad  for  dividends.  I  believe,  in  spite  of 
what  we  have  heard,  that  colored  people  and  white 
people  can  learn  to  live  together  in  the  same  city,  each 
enjoying  the  full  privileges  of  citizenship  without  limit 
ing  the  rights  of  the  other.  I  can  see  though  that  we 
have  a  great  deal  to  do  before  matters  will  be  set  right; 
it  will  take  years  of  effort  and  education  on  the  part 
of  both  races." 

Another  man,  a  member  of  the  School  Board,  made 
the  evening's  last  definite  suggestion.  "We  have  stayed 
here  a  long  time  to-night,"  he  said,  "and  it  has  been 
immensely  worth  while.  I  believe  we  ought  to  meet 
here  again  next  week,  possibly  with  a  little  larger  repre 
sentation  of  both  races,  when  we  can  set  up  a  perma- 


62  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

nent  organization,  to  act  as  an  interracial  clearing 
house.  Of  course  we  must  watch  out  that  this  com 
mittee  does  not  become  a  political  organization  for  the 
purpose  of  controlling  the  Negro  vote.  With  proper 
guarding,  however,  I  believe  we  can  make  it  a  power 
for  good  in  Delafield." 

The  meeting  was  adjourned  with  the  understanding 
that  a  second  meeting  would  be  held  a  week  later.  As 
J.  W.  walked  home  with  Pastor  Schuster  he  asked  him, 
"Well,  do  you  think  we  accomplished  anything  to 
night?" 

"Yes,"  said  the  minister,  "probably  more  than  you 
imagine.  It  was  really  good  work  to  bring  representa 
tives  of  the  two  races  together,  even  if  we  did  nothing 
but  talk.  A  good  many  of  the  world's  troubles  arise 
because  people  do  not  understand  each  other.  Some 
times  a  little  talk  may  go  a  long  way  toward  smoothing 
over  difficulties." 

"Yes,"  said  J.  W.,  "but  if  we  want  results  in  Dela 
field,  we  must  do  more  than  talk  things  over." 

"Surely,"  said  his  pastor.  "But  it  has  to  begin  in 
talk.  I  don't  think  all  this  is  going  to  end  in  talk.  I 
believe  we  are  going  to  get  at  some  definite  things 
which  need  to  be  done  here.  Is  it  a  fact  that  you  are 
to  be  away  much  of  the  time  this  year?  You  have  done 
well  to  get  this  work  started ;  and  I  give  you  my  word 
I  will  do  my  best  to  keep  it  going  until  we  have  some  of 
the  results  you  hope  for." 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  that,"  said  J.  W.,  "espe 
cially  because  it  is  a  fact  that  I  must  be  on  the  road  a 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  63 

good  deal.  But  don't  give  me  the  credit  for  what 
happened  to-night.  It  is  directly  the  result  of  your 
sermon  last  Sunday.  If  it  hadn't  been  for  that  I  should 
not  have  been  so  much  interested  as  I  am  now." 

And  then  the  next  evening  J.  W.  dropped  in  on  his 
former  pastor,  the  Rev.  Walter  Drury.  That  gentle 
man  had  recovered  sufficient  strength  so  that  he  was 
fairly  comfortable,  and  could  do  many  things  for  him 
self.  Of  course  everybody  knew  that  his  days  in  the 
active  ministry  were  over. 

It  had  been  some  time  since  he  had  had  an  uninter 
rupted  talk  with  J.  W.,  and  he  welcomed  him  with  un 
veiled  pleasure. 

J.  W.  was  in  many  ways  the  delight  of  Walter 
Drury's  days  of  enforced  inactivity,  for  J.  W.  was  in 
more  than  one  respect  a  symbol  of  what  he  had  tried 
to  do  for  all  his  people  during  the  years  of  his  ministry. 
It  had  happened  that  he  had  been  able  to  do  more  with 
J.  W.  than  with  any  other  one  individual. 

Once  comfortably  seated  in  the  familiar  study,  Pas 
tor  Drury  and  J.  W.  talked  on  and  on.  They  discussed 
freely  the  process  and  methods  by  which  J.  W.  had 
gained  his  Christian  outlook,  how  he  had  been  led  into 
varied  experiences  which  had  shown  him  the  vastness, 
the  infinite  variety,  and  the  importance  of  the  work  of 
the  church. 

They  talked  also  of  the  future,  and  what  it  might 
hold  in  store  for  the  young  layman.  Inevitably  they 
talked  of  the  present,  of  the  new  home,  of  Jeannette, 
of  the  new  pastor,  of  the  sermon  of  the  previous  Sun- 


64  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

day,  and  of  the  events  which  had  led  up  to  it  and  fol 
lowed  it. 

"In  my  judgment,"  said  Walter  Drury,  "we  have 
before  us  here  in  Delafield,  in  concrete  form,  one  of  the 
mightiest  problems  which  the  world  faces  to-day.  Can 
people  of  different  races  live  side  by  side,  amicably, 
under  the  social  systems  and  ideals  of  the  present? 
The  answer  to  that  question  may  determine  whether 
our  existing  civilization  can  survive,  or  whether  it  is 
doomed  to  collapse. 

"And  yet,  curiously  enough,  the  solution  of  the  diffi 
culty  is  a  very  simple  one.  Christian  education  and  the 
practical  application  of  Christian  principles  to  our  hu 
man  relationships  would  quickly  abolish  the  entire  diffi 
culty.  The  thing  which  is  going  to  hold  civilization  to 
gether,  in  the  final  test,  is  not  complexion  but  ideals, 
and  the  only  ideals  which  are  big  enough  to  dominate 
the  world's  forces  are  those  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Walter  Drury's  face  glowed  as  he  warmed  to  this, 
his  favorite  subject.  "It  is  one  of  the  glories  of  Chris 
tian  missions,"  said  he,  "that  at  their  best  they  under 
take  to  establish  the  ideals  of  Jesus  among  all  races  of 
men,  both  here  and  abroad.  You  have  had  a  chance  to 
see  something  of  the  immensity  of  the  task,  but  its  sig 
nificance  will  grow  upon  you  as  the  years  pass." 

"I  have  seen  enough  already  to  know  that  the  church 
has  a  very  big  and  a  very  important  task  to  perform," 
said  J.  W.  "It's  going  to  require  the  consecration  and 
cooperation  of  all  of  us,  if  the  job  is  ever  done." 

"By  the  way,"  remarked  Walter  Drury,  as  J.  W.  was 


GETTING  ACQUAINTED  65 

about  to  leave,  "you  were  telling  me  that  your  next  trip 
will  take  you  into  the  South.  It  might  be  a  good  thing 
for  you  to  see  what  the  church  is  doing  for  the  Amer 
ican  Negro  down  there,  and  also  to  see  what  the  Negro 
is  doing  for  the  church.  The  South  and  Delafield  can't 
think  of  facing  this  business  in  ignorance  of  one  an 
other.  Suppose  I  give  you  the  names  of  several  per 
sons  who  could  help  you  to  see  some  things  which  you 
could  not  otherwise  see,  and  to  learn  something  of  the 
Negro  situation  from  the  Negro  himself?" 

"That  would  suit  me  all  right,"  acquiesced  J.  W. 
"I  don't  know  how  much  chance  I  shall  have  to  look 
around,  but  anything  that  has  to  do  with  rural  life  I 
am  interested  in.  You  know  I  am  out  to  sell  tools  and 
agricultural  implements,  and  I  have  found  out  already 
that  you  can't  know  too  much  about  the  country  and 
the  people  when  you  are  in  a  job  of  that  sort." 

"I'll  send  you  the  names  anyway,"  said  Walter  Drury 
smiling.  "I'll  trust  you  to  do  the  rest.  I've  watched 
you  quite  a  while  now,  and  you  haven't  failed  me  yet." 


CHAPTER  III 
IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON 

IT  was  time  for  J.  W.  to  get  ready  for  the  first  trip 
since  his  homecoming  and  his  marriage.  There  must 
be  a  few  days  at  Saint  Louis,  getting  familiar  with 
the  business  changes  which  had  taken  place  during  his 
long  absence.  He  needed  to  learn  something  about  the 
goods,  and  something  more  about  the  customers  he 
was  expected  to  serve. 

The  leave-taking  was  not  the  success  it  had  been  ad 
vertised  to  be.  In  spite  of  her  firm  resolution  to  be 
brave,  and  even  gay,  Jeannette  found  her  eyes  be 
traying  her,  and  J.  W.  had  no  courage  to  boast  of. 
He  stood  on  the  back  platform  until  first  Jeannette  and 
then  Delafield  faded  from  view.  Then  he  went  inside 
and  began  to  take  account  of  business  stock.  He  had 
been  gone  so  long  in  the  Orient  that  all  sorts  of  ques 
tions  arose  in  his  mind  as  to  his  chances  of  making  good 
in  the  South.  But  at  heart  he  was  not  really  afraid  of 
the  outcome. 

Reaching  Saint  Louis,  he  put  in  a  hard  week  between 
office  and  warehouse,  finding  as  he  worked  that  the  first 
zest  of  his  cub  salesman  days  came  back  in  a  flood. 
Every  night  he  wrote  to  Jeannette,  and  Jeannette  also 
managed  to  write  a  letter  a  day. 

66 


TWO  RURAL  NEGRO  SCHOOLS 
A  modern  Rosen wald  school  and  one  of  the  poorer  sort. 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  67 

By  the  end  of  the  week  J.  W.,  though  he  did  not 
know  quite  all  that  might  be  known  about  the  business 
and  the  goods  of  the  Cummings  Hardware  Company, 
was  fairly  sure  that  he  had  about  all  the  information 
that  he  could  use  on  one  trip.  And  so  he  set  out. 

The  plan  was  that  he  should  go  east  to  Virginia,  for 
his  firm  was  pretty  well  established  even  so  far  away 
from  home,  and  then  work  back  toward  Saint  Louis. 
En  route  he  was  to  be  alert  for  new  needs  and  new  de 
mands,  as  well  as  for  new  ideas  about  agricultural  im 
plements  in  general. 

He  managed  to  find  both  business  and  ideas,  but 
nothing  befell  which  would  be  of  special  interest  to 
this  chronicle  until  he  had  passed  through  Virginia,  and 
had  traversed  North  Carolina.  In  South  Carolina  he 
found  the  cotton-picking  still  on,  and  he  got  a  new 
sense  of  the  immensity  of  the  crop.  He  had  never  be 
fore  seen  so  much  cotton.  He  could  hardly  have  be 
lieved  that  there  was  so  much  cotton  in  the  world. 

Not  only  did  he  ride  through  mile  after  mile  of 
cotton  fields,  with  their  thousands  of  black  men, 
women,  and  children  busy  at  the  picking,  but  it  seemed 
as  though  every  cabin  had  its  store  of  freshly-baled  or 
freshly-picked  cotton.  In  the  roads  he  saw  long  lines 
of  wagons  carrying  yet  more  cotton  to  the  gins,  and 
other  wagons  hauling  the  baled  cotton  away  after  its 
ordeal  in  the  teeth  of  the  gin.  At  every  station  there 
was  more  cotton;  it  was  the  one  conspicuous  com 
modity.  Here  a  score  of  bales,  there  a  hundred,  and 
sometimes  many  hundreds  of  bales  under  a  single  roof. 


68  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

As  he  looked  out,  hour  after  hour  and  day  after  day, 
on  the  endless  acres  of  white,  he  had  the  feeling  that, 
whatever  other  calamities  might  come,  the  world  would 
never  again  lack  for  cotton. 

Because  he  was  a  born  salesman,  he  was  a  busy  one. 
What  between  his  regular  work  and  his  interest  in  the 
unusual  aspects  of  the  country,  he  had  not  found  much 
time  to  think  about  his  last  talk  with  Walter  Drury 
before  leaving  Delafield.  But  one  night  in  taking  out 
his  pocket  notebook  he  dropped  from  it  a  folded  slip, 
which,  when  he  opened  it,  proved  to  be  the  list  of  names 
his  old  pastor  had  sent  to  him.  He  had  not  taken  the 
time  to  examine  it  before.  Now  he  looked  it  over  with 
fresh  interest.  It  held  the  names  of  seven  or  eight 
ministers  and  district  superintendents,  and  one  bishop. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  paper  a  penciled  note  said,  "These 
men  are  all  Negroes,  and  leaders  in  the  church.  They 
are  worth  knowing,  and  they  will  be  glad  to  meet  you 
and  talk  with  you." 

And,  as  coincidence  would  have  it,  one  of  the  men 
listed  as  a  district  superintendent  was  noted  as  living 
in  the  very  town  in  which  J.  W.  chanced  to  be  stopping. 

This  was  his  first  opportunity  to  show  that  he  ap 
preciated  Walter  Drury's  suggestions.  He  could  at 
least  call  on  this  official,  so  that  he  could  report  that 
fact  to  Pastor  Drury. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  J.  W.  was  not  unduly  en 
thusiastic  about  the  prospect,  though  he  was  willing  to 
try.  You  see,  he  had  never  called  upon  a  Negro  before 
except  as  he  had  occasion  to  visit  Alexander  Driver 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  69 

once  or  twice  on  matters  of  business,  and  he  wasn't 
quite  sure  under  what  condition  the  rules  of  etiquette 
made  provision  for  a  white  man  to  make  such  a  call. 
The  very  uncertainty  made  him  a  trifle  self-conscious. 
He  hesitated  to  make  inquiry  at  the  hotel  desk  for 
guidance  to  the  address  he  sought.  Instead  he  quietly 
approached  one  of  the  bell  boys,  a  colored  boy,  of 
course,  and  was  soon  put  in  possession  of  the  desired 
information.  Sauntering  out  into  the  night,  within  ten 
minutes  he  stood  before  a  modest  house  on  the  outskirts 
of  town.  At  first  he  thought  there  was  no  one  at  home, 
but  a  gentle  rap  on  the  door  brought  a  response,  and  a 
fairly  tall  Negro  of  middle  age  stood  before  him. 

"Are  you  the  district  superintendent  of  this  region?" 
J.  W.  asked. 

"I  am,"  said  the  colored  man.  "Can  I  be  of  service 
to  you?" 

"My  name,"  said  J.  W.,  "is  John  Wesley  Farwell.  I 
am  a  Methodist  layman,  and  a  traveling  man.  It  hap 
pens  that  I  am  very  much  interested  in  the  work  which 
the  church  is  doing  in  this  part  of  the  country,  and  be 
fore  I  left  home  on  this  trip  a  friend  gave  me  your  name 
and  address,  and  suggested  that  I  call  on  you  and  hear 
from  you  something  about  your  work." 

"You  are  very  welcome,"  said  the  district  superin 
tendent.  "Step  right  inside,  won't  you,  please?  It  is 
seldom  that  I  get  a  chance  to  talk  to  laymen  like  your 
self  who  are  sincerely  interested  in  what  we  are  doing, 
or  trying  to  do,  and  I  certainly  appreciate  this  oppor 
tunity. 


70  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"Won't  you  rest  your  hat?"  he  added.  "And  please 
step  right  into  this  room.  I  will  bring  another  light." 

J.  W.  wasn't  quite  sure  what  he  had  expected  to  find, 
but  he  felt  a  touch  of  surprise  as  he  entered  a  com 
fortable  sitting  room,  its  rugs,  chairs,  pictures,  books,  a 
few  periodicals,  an  organ,  and  other  home  accessories, 
proclaiming  its  quality. 

"If  you  will  ask  me  questions,"  said  the  district 
superintendent  when  they  both  were  seated,  "it  will 
help  me  to  give  you  the  kind  of  information  you  want." 

"I  don't  know  enough  to  ask  questions,  yet,"  said 
J.  W.  "But  if  you  will,  it  would  help  me  to  have  you 
begin  by  telling  me  about  yourself." 

"That's  a  subject  that  I  don't  like  to  talk  much 
about,"  replied  the  district  superintendent,  "but  if  it 
will  give  you  a  start  I'll  go  ahead. 

"I  was  born  in  this  State  and  have  lived  here  most 
of  my  life.  My  father  was  born  and  brought  up  a 
slave,  but  he  bought  his  freedom,  so  that  he  was  a  free 
man  before  the  Civil  War.  He  went  into  business  for 
himself  and  prospered  well,  at  least  enough  that  he 
was  able  to  educate  all  of  us  children.  I  had  five  broth 
ers  and  sisters  who  lived  to  grow  up,  and  every  member 
of  the  family,  with  one  exception,  became  a  school 
teacher." 

"Your  father  must  have  been  something  of  a  be 
liever  in  education,"  suggested  J.  W. 

"He  surely  was,"  said  the  minister.  "I  began  going 
to  school  when  I  was  seven  years  old,  and  by  the  time 
I  was  twelve  I  was  teaching  night  school  in  Charleston. 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  71 

At  sixteen  I  graduated  from  a  private  school  in  the 
city  of  Charleston.  Right  after  that  I  taught  two 
years,  and  then  I  entered  Claflin  University  at  Orange- 
burg,  South  Carolina,  one  of  the  schools  conducted  by 
the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episco 
pal  Church.  After  that  I  went  to  Howard  University 
in  Washington,  D.  C,  though  I  received  my  A.B.  from 
an  important  school  in  this  State.  Later  I  received  the 
degree  of  A.  M.  from  Syracuse  University  and  the 
degree  of  D.D.  from  Wilberforce  University." 

"Did  you  go  into  the  ministry  then?"  asked  J.  W. 
"You  certainly  had  better  preparation  for  it  than  most 
of  the  young  ministers  I've  known." 

"Well,  no,"  responded  the  other.  "For  a  time  after 
getting  my  A.B.  I  taught  school.  Later  I  joined  the 
Conference  and  preached  and  taught  at  the  same  time. 
I  usually  had  charge  of  the  public  school  in  the  same 
place  where  I  preached.  Now  for  almost  six  years 
I  have  been  in  this  district  as  superintendent.  I  guess 
that's  about-tny  whole  story." 

"And  you  said  you  didn't  like  to  talk  about  it!" 
ejaculated  J.  W.  "Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  all  of 
the  district  superintendents  in  this  Conference  have 
had  as  good  an  education  as  you  have?" 

"I  am  afraid  not,"  said  the  district  superintendent, 
"but  I  wouldn't  like  to  make  comparisons  at  that  point. 
You  see,  my  father  was  in  a  position  to  give  us  special 
advantages  which  others  did  not  enjoy,  especially  at 
that  time.  And  he  had  the  ambition  as  well  as  the 
money." 


72  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"Have  you  any  family  of  your  own?"  inquired  J.  W. 

"Oh,  yes,  I  have  several  children,"  answered  the 
district  superintendent,  smiling.  "One  son  graduated 
from  the  Agricultural  Department  of  the  University  of 
Wisconsin,  and  another  is  now  studying  medicine  in 
the  University  of  Michigan.  Then  I  have  a  daughter 
who  is  teaching.  My  other  children  are  still  in  school. 
The  two  older  boys  were  in  the  army.  One  reached 
the  rank  of  captain,  and  the  other,  who  served  in 
France,  got  his  second  lieutenant's  commission  over 
there." 

"I  am  not  sure  of  the  count,"  said  J.  W.,  "but  I  make 
it  at  five;  is  that  right?" 

"Six,"  said  the  minister  with  another  smile.  "I 
have  an  old-fashioned  family,  you'll  think." 

"It's  an  interesting  one,  anyway,"  said  J.  W.  "And 
now,  what  about  your  work  ?  Is  it  about  the  same  as 
it  would  be  anywhere  in  the  church?" 

"Oh,  yes,  some  of  it.  This  is  distinctly  a  rural  dis 
trict.  It  has  forty-six  points,  and  forty  are  out  in  the 
open  country.  We  have  twenty  men  on  the  district — 
a  man  for  every  charge,  though  some  of  the  men  serve 
two  and  three  points.  But  one  of  our  difficulties  is  that 
the  men  haven't  the  education  they  should  have,  by  a 
long  way." 

"Their  training — how  far  does  it  go  ?"  asked  J.  W. 

"Well,  one  man  is  college  trained,  several  have  the 
equivalent  of  a  high-school  education ;  but  some  haven't 
had  much  schooling  of  any  sort. 

"By  the  way,"  continued  the  district  superintendent, 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  73 

"I  have  to  make  quite  a  drive  into  the  country  to 
morrow  to  see  what  some  of  the  pastors  are  doing  on 
their  Centenary  offerings.  Would  you  care  to  go 
along,  and  see  some  of  this  work  for  yourself?" 

Now  J.  W.  had  been  glad  to  see  and  talk  with  this 
Negro  leader,  but  he  had  not  thought  of  carrying  his 
studies  of  the  Negro  quite  as  far  as  the  minister's  in 
vitation  suggested.  But  he  had  been  given  a  fairly  free 
hand  as  to  the  use  of  his  spare  time,  and,  besides,  he 
might  find  out  something  that  would  have  a  distinct 
business  value.  So  he  said,  "I  should  consider  it  a 
great  privilege  to  go."  , 

It  was  arranged  that  J.  W.  should  come  over  from 
his  hotel  early  the  next  morning,  and  start  from  the 
minister's  house. 

They  set  out  at  eight,  in  a  car  which  would  have  been 
identified  as  quickly  in  Denmark  or  Demerara  as  in 
Detroit,  J.  W.  and  the  district  superintendent  in  the 
back  seat  and  a  colored  boy  at  the  wheel. 

Somewhat  to  J.  W.'s  surprise,  instead  of  heading  for 
the  country,  the  car  turned  toward  town. 

Said  his  escort,  "Before  we  get  away  into  my  'work,' 
I  would  like  you  to  meet  some  of  the  Southern  white 
men  who  are  doing  a  good  deal  to  help  us.  We  are 
building  a  fine  brick  building  for  our  Negro  children. 
It  is  to  be  a  creditable  public  school,  and  I  want  you  to 
shake  hands  with  the  man  who  has  been  most  active  in 
planning  it  and  getting  it  under  way." 

They  had  stopped  in  front  of  a  handsome  house,  and 
a  tall  man  of  forty-five  or  so  answered  the  bell.  The 


74  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

district  superintendent  said,  "Mr.  Harlan,  I  have  with 
me  a  Methodist  layman  from  the  North.  He  is  going 
out  into  the  country  to  look  at  some  of  our  churches, 
and  I  was  anxious  that  he  should  meet  you,  because, 
as  I  have  told  him,  you  are  doing  so  much  for  our 
people." 

"I  understand,"  volunteered  J.  W.,  "that  you  have 
been  active  in  the  project  for  a  new  school  building  to 
serve  the  colored  children  of  your  town." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Harlan,  "we  are  trying  to  give 
them  as  good  as  there  is.  And  I  think  you  would  enjoy 
taking  a  look  at  the  building.  It  is  not  so  wonderful, 
compared  with  some  you  have  seen,  but  it  is  so  much 
better  than  the  building  it  displaces  that  we  are  inclined 
to  be  sort  of  proud  of  it." 

"We  aim  to  pass  by  it  as  we  go  through  town,"  said 
the  district  superintendent,  "and  now  we  must  be  mov 
ing  along,  for  it  is  a  long  ride  we  have  ahead  of  us." 

"I  am  right  glad  you  stopped  by,"  said  Mr.  Harlan 
to  J.  W.,  as  they  parted.  "It  is  time  there  was  more 
visiting  back  and  forth  between  the  North  and  the 
South.  I  do  some  of  it  myself  when  I  go  North,  but  a 
visit  like  this  of  yours  is  not  as  common  as  it  ought 
to  be." 

J.  W.  answered  him  cordially,  "It  has  been  a  real 
pleasure  to  meet  you,"  said  he.  "You  have  given  me 
something  to  tell  about  when  I  get  back  home." 

"And  now,"  said  the  district  superintendent,  "I  am 
going  to  take  you  to  call  on  our  mayor.  He's  another 
friend  of  our  work." 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  75 

At  his  place  of  business  they  found  his  Honor,  who 
received  them  as  cordially  as  if  they  represented  a  block 
of  influential  votes. 

"I  have  been  hearing,"  said  J.  W.,  "about  the  good 
relations  that  exist  between  the  white  and  the  colored 
citizens  of  your  town,  and  I  want  to  ask  you  how  you 
keep  the  general  opinion  on  both  sides  so  cordial." 

"That's  not  so  very  hard,"  answered  the  mayor. 
"We  think  we  have  as  fine  a  population  of  colored 
people  as  can  be  found  in  the  State,  and  the  people 
who  elected  me  expect  me  to  see  that  nothing  is  done  to 
stir  up  any  trouble  on  either  side." 

Once  more  in  the  car,  and  on  the  way  to  the  new 
school  building,  J.  W.  commented  on  the  mayor's  af 
fability.  "I  suppose  he  finds  it  good  politics  to  praise 
the  Negroes  of  the  town;  it  probably  helps  him  to  hold 
the  Negro  vote." 

"No,"  the  district  superintendent  laughed  somewhat 
grimly.  "The  politicians  in  these  parts  don't  have  to 
worry  about  the  Negro  vote.  The  Negro  doesn't  vote. 
But  the  mayor  is  perfectly  sincere  in  his  talk  about  our 
people.  He  has  done  many  things  for  us,  and  there  is 
no  one  that  I  would  go  to  quicker  in  time  of  trouble 
than  to  him.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  racial  conditions  are 
unusually  good  in  this  town.  I've  lived  in  many  differ 
ent  places  in  the  State,  and  I've  suffered  many  things 
too,  but  I  think  we  have  the  best  white  people  in  this 
town  that  I  have  ever  known." 

By  this  time  they  had  reached  the  new  school  build 
ing.  It  was  only  well  started,  yet  one  could  see  what 


;6  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

it  would  become.  As  they  drove  on  past  they  talked 
about  it. 

"Is  it  to  be  a  high  school?"  said  J.  W. 

"Oh,  no,"  said  the  district  superintendent.  "There 
is  no  such  thing  possible  here  as  a  high  school  for  Ne 
groes.  But  this  is  going  to  be  one  of  the  best  grade- 
school  buildings  for  colored  children  in  the  State.  It 
will  have  well-equipped  playgrounds  and  other  modern 
features." 

"You  say  high  schools  are  not  provided,"  said  J.  W. 
"Then  how  much  school  opportunity  exists  for  col 
ored  children  over  your  district?" 

"In  the  country,"  said  the  district  superintendent, 
"for  the  most  part,  the  children  have  some  sort  of  a 
school  open  for  some  period  of  the  year.  In  many 
cases,  however,  the  term  is  so  short,  the  building  is  so 
poor  and  so  destitute  of  equipment,  and  the  preparation 
of  the  teachers  so  entirely  inadequate,  that  the  school 
amounts  practically  to  no  school  at  all.  Some  of  the 
teachers  couldn't  qualify  for  the  fifth  grade  them 
selves." 

"Some  of  your  church  members  can't  be  so  very  well 
educated,  then,"  said  J.  W. 

"I  should  say  not.  Probably  at  least  a  third  of  them 
can't  read  or  write." 

By  this  time  the  car  was  out  in  the  open  country, 
passing  along  narrow  dirt  roads  flanked  on  either  side 
with  cotton  fields  and  corn  fields.  Frequent  rough 
board,  unpainted  cabins  stood  by  the  roadside.  Oc 
casionally  the  party  stopped  to  talk  for  a  moment  with 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  77 

passing  Negroes  or  with  those  who  were  picking  cot 
ton  or  "pulling"  corn  near  the  road.  Pulling  corn 
consists  not  in  pulling  the  cornstalks  themselves,  but 
rather  in  gathering  the  ears  of  corn  which,  earlier  in 
the  season,  have  been  broken  down  and  left  hanging  to 
the  stalks. 

By  and  by  they  came  to  a  small,  unpainted  building 
which  looked  so  different  from  the  other  cabins  that 
J.  W.  was  moved  to  ask  what  it  might  be. 

"That  ?"  said  the  district  superintendent.  "That's  a 
schoolhouse  for  colored  children." 

"A  schoolhouse !"  said  J.  W.  "That  may  be  a  school- 
house,  but  if  so,  it  certainly  is  the  crudest  one  I  ever 
saw.  Does  that  fairly  represent  schoolhouses  you  have 
down  here?" 

"Well,  we  have  altogether  too  many  of  that  kind, 
but  some  are  very  much  better  than  that,  as  you  will  see 
before  the  day  is  over,"  replied  the  district  superin 
tendent. 

The  car  stopped,  and  J.  W.  got  out  and  tried  the  door 
of  the  building.  It  was  unlocked,  and  he  stepped  in 
side.  He  found  a  few  rough  and  much-dilapidated 
benches,  one  chair,  and  a  table  about  ready  to  topple 
over.  That  was  all. 

"It  can't  be  that  they  really  have  school  here,"  said 
J.  W.  "It's  a  school  day  to-day,  but  no  one  is  here. 
Besides,  the  place  hasn't  room  for  more  than  fifteen  or 
twenty  pupils  if  they  came." 

"They  have  school  here,  all  right,"  said  the  district 
superintendent;  "that  is,  if  you  want  to  call  it  a  school. 


78  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

Probably  your  schools  at  home  have  been  open  for  two 
months  already,  but  you  see  we  are  still  picking  cotton 
down  here,  and  school  doesn't  usually  begin  until  the 
cotton-picking  season  is  nearly  over.  Then  it  lasts  for 
about  four  or  five  months.  Sometimes  the  parents  raise 
a  little  more  money,  and  keep  the  teacher  another 
month.  There'll  be  fifty  or  sixty  children  of  all  grades 
here  in  this  room  a  little  later  in  the  season.  It's  quite 
a  job  too  for  one  teacher  to  handle  such  a  school  and 
get  much  real  work  done." 

By  this  time  they  had  climbed  back  into  the  car  and 
were  driving  along  the  dusty  road.  Soon  the  district 
superintendent  asked  the  driver  to  stop. 

"I  want  you  to  meet  this  man  here  in  the  field,"  he 
said  to  J.  W.,  "he  is  one  of  our  pastors." 

J.  W.  climbed  through  the  wire  fence  and  walked 
toward  a  small  group  of  workers;  a  man,  a  woman, 
and  two  children. 

"This  is  Brother  Jones,"  said  the  district  superin 
tendent.  "He  has  charge  of  our  circuit  here  of  three 
churches." 

J.  W.  greeted  the  workers,  who  had  been  engaged  in 
digging  sweet  potatoes.  By  rapid-fire  questions  he 
drew  out  a  considerable  amount  of  information  con 
cerning  the  number  of  bushels  of  potatoes  Brother 
Jones  expected  to  harvest,  the  three  bales  of  cotton  he 
had  raised,  his  corn  crop,  the  two  pigs  which  he  had 
ready  to  kill,  what  family  he  had,  and  what  about  his 
three  churches. 

When  J.  W.  was  back  in  the  car  once  more  he  turned 


79 

to  the  district  superintendent  and  said,  "That  man 
seems  to  be  a  pretty  good  farmer,  but  I  don't  see  when 
he  gets  time  to  prepare  his  sermons." 

"I'm  afraid  he  doesn't  spend  much  time  on  sermon 
preparation,"  said  the  district  superintendent. 

"Do  all  of  your  men  do  something  else  besides 
preach?"  said  J.  W. 

"Oh,  no,"  the  other  replied,  "we  have  men  getting 
as  much  as  seventeen  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  they 
give  all  of  their  time  to  their  church  work.  Of  course 
this  man  gets  only  a  few  hundred  dollars  from  his 
churches.  His  people  are  poor,  and  he  has  never  been 
trained  for  his  work." 

"I  suppose  a  district  as  poor  as  this  isn't  able  to  give 
much  toward  the  Centenary  funds?"  said  J.  W. 

"Well,"  said  the  district  superintendent,  "we  have 
given  sixteen  thousand  dollars  already,  and  we  expect 
to  give  nine  thousand  more  this  year.  It's  going  to  be 
pretty  hard  to  do  it,  for  they  couldn't  sell  their  cotton 
last  year,  and  this  year  the  boll  weevil  has  damaged 
the  crop  considerably."  . 

"What's  this  ?"  interrupted  J.  W.,  as  the  car  stopped 
in  front  of  an  attractive  building,  plainly  not  a  home, 
and  yet  wholly  unlike  the  school  he  had  inspected  a  few 
miles  back.  He  was  perplexed  to  know  what  it  might 
be. 

"This  is  another  type  of  rural  school,"  said  the  dis 
trict  superintendent.  "We  call  it  a  Rosenwald  school. 
I  have  six  or  seven  of  these  on  my  district.  You  see  a 
Mr.  Rosenwald  in  Chicago  gives  a  certain  amount  of 


80  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

money,  if  the  county  and  the  people  in  the  school  dis 
trict  will  raise  a  certain  amount,  and  then  they  build 
one  of  these  school  buildings.  This  school  you'll  find 
is  already  in  session.  Would  you  like  to  go  in  ?" 

Of  course  J.  W.  wanted  to  see  the  inside  of  this 
modest  but  attractive  building,  with  its  many  clean 
windows.  Inside  they  found  four  teachers  in  as  many 
different  rooms  busily  engaged  instructing  classes  of 
various  ages.  The  desks  and  the  other  school  equip 
ment  were  of  the  most  modern  sort,  the  floors  were 
clean,  and  the  light  was  abundant.  The  principal  ex 
plained  that  the  pupils  were  now  coming  in  rapidly,  and 
that  the  building  would  soon  be  rilled  to  capacity.  The 
contrast  between  this  school  and  the  one  J.  W.  had  seen 
an  hour  before  was  so  great  that  he  could  hardly  believe 
his  eyes. 

"Is  this  man  Rosenwald  a  Negro?"  he  asked  the 
principal. 

"No,"  laughed  the  teacher.  "His  name  tells  you 
what  race  he  belongs  to;  but  he  certainly  has  done  a 
lot  for  the  Negro.  You'll  find  schools  like  this  all 
over  the  South  from  Carolina  to  Texas." 

As  J.  W.  came  out  of  the  schoolhouse  he  saw  an 
other  building  some  rods  away,  which  he  had  not  noted 
before.  It  was  a  plain  box  structure  which  had  once 
been  painted  white. 

"That,"  said  the  district  superintendent,  "is  our 
church." 

"Has  it  just  one  room?"  asked  J.  W. 

"Yes,"   said  the  district  superintendent,  "just  one 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  81 

room.  About  the  only  thing  that  it  is  adapted  for  at 
all  is  preaching.  Of  course  we  have  a  Sunday  school 
too.  We  might  use  the  schoolhouse  for  Sunday- 
school  purposes.  It  would  be  much  better  than  this, 
but  the  people  haven't  gotten  used  to  that  idea  yet." 

"Are  all  of  your  churches  of  this  type?"  J.  W.  asked. 

"Practically  all  of  them  in  the  country,"  the  district 
superintendent  answered ;  "just  four  walls  and  a  roof." 

"Do  you  know  what  I  think?"  said  J.  W.  "I  think 
that  this  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  rural  oppor 
tunities  that  a  pastor  could  find  anywhere  in  the  United 
States.  With  all  those  children  there  must  be  a  lot  of 
people  around  here  somewhere.  A  trained  pastor  with 
a  modern  community  program  for  this  church  could 
remake  this  entire  countryside.  Of  course  he  ought 
to  have  a  new  church,  adapted  to  his  work,  but  for  the 
present  at  least  he  could  use  the  schoolhouse." 

"The  opportunity  is  here  all  right,"  said  the  district 
superintendent,  "and  so  are  the  people.  Most  of  them 
are  Methodists  too.  If  you'll  just  send  us  the  trained 
man,  we'll  agree  to  do  the  rest.  That's  all  we  need,  but 
it  seems  to  be  a  plenty." 

J.  W.  had  many  experiences  during  the  crowded  day. 
They  drove  fast  while  they  drove,  but  they  stopped 
often.  They  saw  more  than  twenty  churches  and 
almost  an  equal  number  of  schoolhouses,  and  they 
called  upon  several  pastors.  Once  they  stopped  at  a 
little  cotton  gin  which,  J.  W.  was  told,  was  owned  and 
operated  by  Negroes.  Here  he  saw  the  wagons  drive 
up,  loaded  with  freshly-picked  cotton,  and  he  watched 


82  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

the  cotton  disappear  as  if  by  magic,  when  the  drivers 
pulled  down  the  large  suction  pipes  which  were  used 
for  the  unloading.  From  the  moment  the  cotton  leaped 
out  of  the  wagon  to  meet  these  pipes  it  kept  on  the  move 
until  it  had  passed  into  the  great  hoppers,  and  then 
down  beneath  the  little  saw-teeth  which  tore  the  cotton 
from  the  seeds  and  passed  it  on  to  the  carriers,  and 
there  turned  it  out  in  great  white  billows  ready  for 
the  baler.  It  was  all  new  to  J.  W.  and  he  watched  the 
process  with  vast  interest. 

At  noontime  they  paused  at  a  little  country  store 
and  purchased  boxes  of  crackers  and  cakes  and  some 
canned  sausage.  At  nightfall  they  were  still  forty-five 
miles  from  home.  Once  on  the  way  back  they  became 
lost,  and  had  to  get  a  man  to  go  with  them  and  show 
them  the  way.  At  another  time  they  found  the  nar 
row  road  blocked  by  a  truck  which  had  become  stuck 
in  the  sand.  But  about  eleven  o'clock  that  evening  the 
faithful  car  pulled  up  in  front  of  J.  W.'s  hotel. 

"I  can't  tell  you  how  much  this  day  has  meant  to 
me,"  said  J.  W.  as  he  bade  the  district  superintendent 
good-by.  "I  shall  remember  it  as  long  as  I  live." 

He  was  tired  and  hungry  and  covered  with  dust  and 
dirt,  but  these  matters  were  of  little  moment.  He  knew 
that  he  had  spent  an  eventful  day,  and  that  he  would 
always  understand  some  things  better  because  of  it. 

Followed  a  busy  two  weeks,  in  which  he  gave  him 
self  vigorously  to  the  practice  of  his  developing  sales 
manship.  He  found  himself  one  day  down  in  Ala 
bama.  Here  he  had  another  experience  such  as  he 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  83 

loved  to  treasure  up  until  the  time  when  he  could  tell 
it  to  Pastor  Drury.  That  prospect  gave  a  double  in 
terest  to  J.  W.'s  every  new  "adventure  in  humanity," 
as  Walter  Drury  once  put  it. 

J.  W.  was  walking  back  and  forth  on  the  station 
platform  one  morning  as  he  waited  for  his  train,  when 
he  noticed,  in  front  of  the  waiting  room  set  apart  for 
colored  people,  an  intelligent-looking  and  well-dressed 
Negro.  There  was  something  about  the  man  which 
attracted  J.  W.'s  attention,  and  after  a  few  more  turns 
along  the  platform  he  paused  and  said,  "Pardon  me,  but 
are  you  acquainted  with  this  country?" 

"I  should  know  it  fairly  well,"  said  the  other.  "I  was 
born  and  grew  up  not  far  from  here." 

"How  do  you  find  things  among  the  colored  people 
here?"  asked  J.  W. 

"Well,  they're  having  a  pretty  hard  time,  just  now. 
You  see  last  year  cotton  was  so  cheap  that  you  could 
hardly  give  it  away,  and  this  year  the  boll  weevil  hit 
this  section  so  hard  that  it  has  nearly  ruined  the  cotton 
crop.  I  know  one  man  who  used  to  raise  fifty  bales  of 
cotton.  This  year  he  won't  have  two  bales.  Many 
others  are  hit  in  just  about  the  same  way." 

"But  how  can  your  people  get  along  and  live  through 
the  winter  in  these  conditions?"  said  J.  W. 

"Some  of  them  are  going  to  be  up  against  it,  I 
guess,"  said  the  Negro.  "I  know  one  case  where  the 
landlord  came  a  few  days  ago  and  took  all  the  cotton 
the  man  had  raised  and  then  took  his  cow,  his  mule, 
and  the  two  pigs  he  was  depending  on  to  get  through 


84  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

the  winter.  I  just  don't  know  how  they  will  get  along. 
And  that's  no  worse  than  a  good  many  other  cases  of 
which  I  know." 

"The  Negro  doesn't  own  the  land,  then?"  said  J.  W. 

"Oh,  he  owns  some,"  said  the  Negro,  "but  most  of 
it  he  rents,  and,  believe  me,  he  doesn't  always  get  a 
square  deal  when  he  rents.  If  he  raises  just  a  little 
cotton,  the  owner  manages  to  get  it  all,  and,  if  he  has 
good  luck  and  raises  a  lot  of  cotton,  the  owner  seems  to 
manage  to  get  the  bulk  of  it.  We  have  lots  of  folks  who 
just  work  year  after  year  for  practically  their  board 
and  clothes;  and  it's  pretty  poor  board  and  mighty 
few  clothes.  They're  in  debt  most  of  the  time,  for  seed 
and  supplies,  and  it's  just  almost  impossible  for  them 
to  get  away.  Of  course  some  are  more  fortunate.  They 
work  for  more  reasonable  people  or  they  own  their 
land.  Then  those  who  live  in  town  and  work  for  regu 
lar  wages  get  along  pretty  comfortably." 

"Would  you  say  that  it  is  the  ignorance  of  the  Negro 
which  makes  it  easy  to  get  ahead  of  him?"  asked  J.  W. 

"Yes,  that's  partly  it,"  said  the  Negro.  "But  there's 
more  to  it  than  that.  There  are  lots  of  men  who  con 
sider  themselves  perfectly  honest,  whose  conscience 
never  troubles  them  when  they  rob  a  Negro.  Of 
course  I  don't  want  you  to  think  that  people  here  are 
all  like  that,  but  enough  of  them  are  to  cause  us  a  lot 
of  trouble." 

"Do  you  mind  telling  me  what  your  business  is?" 
inquired  J.  W.  "I  am  a  stranger  in  these  parts." 

"I'm  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church," 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  85 

said  his  chance  acquaintance.  "Just  now  I'm  acting 
as  district  superintendent." 

"Another  district  superintendent,"  laughed  J.  W. 
"I  seem  to  have  a  gift  for  meeting  them.  And  yet  you 
know  I  half  suspected  it,  in  spite  of  your  business  suit. 
I'm  a  Methodist  layman  myself.  I'm  here  selling 
goods,  and  trying  to  learn  a  little  in  other  lines  at  the 
same  time.  What  is  there  of  special  interest  about  your 
district?" 

"I  don't  know  that  there  is  much  to  interest  you," 
said  the  minister.  "We  have  forty-six  churches,  a 
large  proportion  of  which  are  in  the  open  country.  Our 
total  membership  is  a  little  more  than  forty-five  hun 
dred.  We  have  added  three  hundred  and  seventy-five 
new  members  thus  far  this  year  and  we  have  raised  a 
little  more  than  fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  the  Cente 
nary  fund." 

"Are  you  doing  anything  that  might  be  called  ad 
vance  work?"  J.  W.  asked. 

"Yes,  we  are  building  a  number  of  new  churches, 
and  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Exten 
sion  is  helping  with  two  or  three  of  these  projects.  We 
have  a  church  going  up  in  one  town  which  will  be  one 
of  the  finest  churches  in  the  entire  region,  either  for 
whites  or  blacks.  The  people  are  enthusiastic  and  have 
given  generously.  They  have  a  young,  well-trained 
pastor,  and  they  will  be  equipped  for  Sunday-school 
work,  and  for  a  variety  of  social  activities  which  will 
reach  the  young  people  in  a  much  more  effective  way 
than  has  been  possible  in  the  past.  Yesterday  I  was 


86  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

back  nearly  twenty  miles  from  the  railroad,  where  the 
Negroes  are  putting  up  a  neat  modern  church,  and  they 
are  doing  it  all  themselves.  They  wrote  to  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension  and  secured 
the  plans,  but  they  aren't  asking  for  a  cent  of  aid.  The 
church  is  going  to  be  quite  different  from  the  old- 
fashioned  four-walled  church  of  which  we  have  so 
many." 

"I  suppose  your  work  keeps  you  fairly  busy?"  said 
J.  W. 

"Well,  I  have  been  steadily  moving  now  for  nearly 
fifty  days,  with  only  two  days  at  home  in  that  time.  I 
have  held  a  quarterly  conference  or  from  one  to  three 
other  services  every  day.  I  wish  you  could  be  at  some 
of  our  quarterly  conferences. 

"Here  is  a  program  of  one  we  held  recently.  It 
lasted  three  days,  and  we  invited  the  county  agent  and 
gave  him  a  prominent  place.  What  do  you  think  of 
these  subjects?" 

J.  W.  took  the  program  and  scanned  the  titles :  "The 
Value  of  Good  Roads  to  the  Farm,"  "Can  the  Farmer 
Raise  His  Own  Feedstuffs  and  His  Food?"  "How 
I  Bought  and  Paid  for  My  Farm,"  "Successful  Year- 
round  Farming,"  "How  I  Raise  Wheat,"  "Games  for 
the  Young  People,"  "The  Importance  of  Canning  and 
Preserving  Fruits  and  Vegetables,"  "The  Home  Gar 
den  and  How  to  Have  One,"  "Successful  Poultry  Rais 
ing  and  Its  Value,"  "The  Importance  of  Keeping  Clean, 
Looking  after  Water,  and  Screening  against  Flies  and 
Mosquitoes,"  "Making  the  Church  an  Agency  for 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  COTTON  87 

Service  to  the  Community,"  "Devotions,"  "Better 
School  Advantages  for  the  Boys  and  Girls,"  "Why 
the  Boys  and  Girls  of  the  County  Should  be  Educated," 
"How  to  Keep  the  Boys  and  Girls  Satisfied  on  the 
Farm,"  "Sermon." 

"Well,  I  never  saw  a  Quarterly  Conference  program 
like  that  before,"  said  J.  W.,  with  emphasis,  "but  that's 
the  kind  of  religion  I  believe  in,  a  religion  that's  broad 
enough  to  include  this  life  as  well  as  the  next.  A  pro 
gram  like  that  ought  to  help  to  make  things  a  good  deal 
better  right  here  and  now." 

By  this  time  the  train  was  pulling  into  the  station. 
"I  am  glad  we  met,"  said  the  Negro.  "I  am  going 
down  the  line  to  hold  a  Quarterly  Conference  to-day. 
I  hope  you  have  a  successful  trip  and  sell  lots  of 
goods." 

With  that  the  Negro  climbed  into  the  coach  for 
colored  people,  and  J.  W.  entered  the  part  of  the  train 
reserved  for  whites. 

"That  fellow  certainly  is  a  live  wire,"  he  mused.  "I 
am  glad  I  spoke  to  him.  He'd  go  a  long  way  if  his 
skin  was  white.  Perhaps  he  will,  anyway." 

Three  weeks  later  a  certain  young  woman  stepped 
onto  the  station  platform  at  Delafield.  Her  face  was 
lighted  up  with  anticipatory  pleasure  as  she  gazed  in 
tently  down  the  track,  although  it  was  fully  forty  min 
utes  till  train  time.  The  hands  of  the  clock  moved 
with  quite  unnecessary  deliberation,  but  at  last  the 
smoke  of  the  engine  could  be  seen  as  the  train  rounded 


88  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

the  bend,  and,  hardly  more  than  a  minute  later,  Jean- 
nette  and  her  husband  were  walking  homeward  arm  in 
arm.  The  weeks  of  separation  had  been  long,  but  who 
remembers  that,  when  "journeys  end  in  lovers'  meet 
ings"? 


CHAPTER  IV 
JOHN  WESLEY,  JR.,  MEETS  A  SURPRISE 

J.  W.'s  brief  sojourn  at  home  was  a  thing  to  be 
cherished,  after  his  long  trip.  There  was  much  to  talk 
over,  not  only  with  Jeannette  and  the  folks,  but  also 
with  Pastor  Drury  and  with  the  new  pastor,  Conrad 
Schuster,  for  whom  J.  W.  was  developing  a  strong 
liking. 

Of  course  the  talk-themes  included  that  wonderful 
day  in  South  Carolina,  and  the  brief  but  enlightening 
conversation  which  J.  W.  had  with  the  other  district 
superintendent  at  the  railroad  station  in  Alabama,  as 
well  as  many  other  matters  which  J.  W.  had  come  upon 
by  keeping  his  ears  and  eyes  open  as  he  traveled. 

Every  one  who  met  him  listened  to  his  recital,  both 
because  J.  W.  was  liked  for  what  he  was,  and  also  be 
cause  what  he  had  to  say  was  new  to  the  listeners.  Pas 
tor  Drury  was  delighted  to  see  that  J.  W.  was  adding 
to  his  grasp  of  the  church's  work  in  the  world,  and 
Conrad  Schuster  was  almost  envious  of  J.  W.'s  oppor 
tunities  to  study  at  first  hand  a  situation  at  once  so  in 
teresting  and  so  important. 

The  Epworth  League  topic  for  the  Sunday  evening 
after  J.  W.'s  return  was  "The  Church  at  Work  in 
America."  Jeannette  and  J.  W.  were  on  hand,  of 
course,  and  J.  W.  was  asked  by  the  leader  to  tell  some 

89   ' 


90  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

of  the  new  ideas  he  had  gained  about  the  work  of  the 
Negro  churches  in  the  South.  He  closed  his  remarks 
by  saying:  "Lots  of  folks  are  continually  talking  about 
the  Negro  as  a  problem,  and  I  suppose  that,  in  certain 
conditions,  any  human  being  is  likely  to  become  a  prob 
lem.  But  I  am  beginning  to  think  of  the  Negro  not  so 
much  as  a  national  problem  as  a  national  asset.  He  is 
emphatically  a  desirable  citizen.  Our  country  would  be 
immeasurably  poorer  in  every  way  without  the  Negro. 
Take  the  matter  of  cotton  alone.  Probably  every  per 
son  in  this  room  is  wearing  cotton  raised  and  picked 
by  Negroes.  But  that's  only  one  product  of  Negro 
labor.  The  Negro  knows  how  to  work,  and  he  works 
as  uncomplainingly  as  most  of  us,  but  I've  begun  to 
learn  that  he  knows  how  to  do  a  great  many  other 
things  besides  raising  cotton,  or  any  other  sort  of 
manual  labor.  Some  of  the  Negroes  I  have  met  have 
brains  enough  to  do  almost  anything,  if  they  had  the 
chance.  I  tell  you  I  am  glad  our  church  has  a  place 
for  Negroes.  I  believe  we  are  a  stronger  and  better 
church  in  every  way  because  of  that  fact.  If  our  Negro 
members  make  as  much  progress  in  the  next  fifty  years 
as  they  have  in  the  last  fifty,  they  will  make  us  white 
Methodists  hustle  to  keep  up  with  them." 

After  the  meeting  was  over  the  League  members 
held  an  impromptu  reception  for  J.  W.  Every  one  was 
delighted  to  see  him  home  again,  and  there  were  many 
expressions  of  interest  in  the  things  he  had  said.  The 
young  folk  of  Delafield  had  reached  the  point  where 
they  were  eager  to  learn  about  the  Negro,  and  especially 


A  SURPRISE  91 

from  one  whose  good  sense  they  trusted  as  much  as 
they  did  J.  W.'s. 

The  following  days  were  crowded  with  activities  of 
many  sorts  for  J.  W.  and  Jeannette.  J.  W.  spent  hours 
at  the  J.  W.  Farwell  Hardware  Company's  store ;  the 
two  made  trips  to  the  farm  for  visits  with  Father  and 
Mother  Shenk;  there  were  other  visits  in  the  home 
of  J.  W.  Farwell,  Sr. ;  and  many  other  engagements. 

All  too  soon  the  time  came  for  J.  W.  to  be  up  and 
away  once  more.  This  time  also  he  was  to  visit  the 
South,  but  his  schedule  took  in  a  slightly  different 
portion  of  it  than  had  been  covered  on  his  previous 
trip. 

It  was  the  first  of  December  when  J.  W.  found  him 
self  one  morning  in  the  small  city  of  Marshall,  up  in 
the  northeastern  corner  of  Texas.  A  glance  at  his 
pocket  map  showed  him  that  he  was  only  a  few  miles 
from  the  western  border  of  Louisiana,  only  a  little  far 
ther  from  the  southwestern  corner  of  Arkansas,  and 
that  a  short  ride  in  a  northerly  direction  would  bring 
him  into  Oklahoma. 

Before  leaving  home  J.  W.  had  taken,  from  a  pam 
phlet  lent  him  by  Pastor  Drury,  a  list  of  the  nineteen 
schools  of  the  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  As  he  came  down 
through  Missouri  and  Arkansas  he  had  hoped  to  get 
a  chance  to  visit  the  George  R.  Smith  College  at  Se- 
dalia,  Missouri,  and  the  Philander  Smith  College  at 
Little  Rock,  Arkansas,  but  circumstances  had  not  per 
mitted  him  to  carry  out  his  wish. 


92  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

He  had  wondered,  in  looking  over  the  list,  if  George 
R.  Smith  and  Philander  Smith  were  brothers,  and  how 
they  happened  to  be  so  much  interested  in  Negro  edu 
cation  as  to  have  Negro  schools  named  after  them. 
Pastor  Drury  had  told  him,  however,  that  the  two 
Smiths  were  not  related,  and  that  George  R.  Smith  was 
not  even  a  Methodist.  In  fact,  he  was  a  Southern  man 
and  he  had  once  owned  slaves,  but  he  hated  slavery, 
and  refused  to  fight  for  it.  He  did  all  he  could  for  the 
Negro,  and  after  his  death  his  daughters  gave  the  site 
for  the  college  which  had  been  established  and  named 
in  his  honor. 

Now  that  J.  W.  was  in  Marshall  he  was  resolved 
that,  if  he  could  arrange  it,  he  would  see  Wiley  Col 
lege,  which,  as  he  discovered  from  his  list,  was  situated 
here. 

As  soon  as  J.  W.  had  registered  at  the  hotel  and 
been  assigned  to  a  room  he  started  out  to  call  on  the 
trade — his  customers.  He  found  most  of  the  proprietors 
in,  and  in  nearly  every  case  he  sold  a  substantial  bill 
of  hardware.  He  enjoyed  selling  hardware,  and,  per 
haps  for  that  reason,  people  liked  to  buy  hardware 
of  him.  By  noontime  of  the  second  day  he  had  com 
pleted  all  his  calls,  and,  as  he  walked  back  to  the  hotel, 
he  began  to  think  about  Wiley  College.  This  was  his 
chance.  He  was  free  until  train  time  in  the  evening, 
and  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  his  taking  advantage 
of  his  opportunity.  He  assumed  that  the  school  must 
be  close  to  town,  and,  as  he  was  prepared  to  see  a  small 
affair  with  only  one  building,  he  expected  that  he  could 


A  SURPRISE  93 

most  likely  make  his  visit  and  get  back  to  the  hotel 
within  an  hour. 

Right  after  dinner  J.  W.  stepped  outside  and  saun 
tered  down  the  street.  He  hadn't  gone  far  when  he 
met  a  young  colored  man.  "Can  you  tell  me  where 
Wiley  College  is?"  said  J.  W. 

"I  surely  can,"  replied  the  young  chap.  "I  just  came 
from  there  myself.  Just  keep  right  on  down  this  street 
and  turn  to  the  left  when  you  go  up  the  next  rise.  It's 
just  on  the  edge  of  town.  It  will  take  you  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  to  walk  out  there." 

"Are  you  a  student  there?"  J.  W.  asked. 

"Yes,  I  am  in  the  College  Department,"  said  the 
young  man,  "but  I  work  several  hours  each  day  down 
here  in  the  drug  store." 

"Do  many  of  the  students  do  outside  work?"  in 
quired  J.  W. 

"A  good  many  of  the  boys,  but  not  many  of  the 
girls,"  answered  the  Negro.  "The  people  here  are  good 
about  giving  us  work.  We  have  students  in  stores,  in 
banks,  in  barber  shops,  and  in  private  homes  where  they 
do  the  outside  work  around  the  house,  and  sometimes 
the  cooking  too.  The  college  won't  let  the  girls  go  out 
that  way  though,  except  in  a  few  special  cases.  A  few 
work  near  the  campus,  and  some  do  work  for  the  col- 
lege." 

"Thank  you  for  your  information,"  said  J.  W.  "I 
am  a  stranger  here,  and  I  want  to  get  a  glimpse  of  your 
school." 

J.  W.  followed  the  instructions  given  as  well  as  he 


94  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

could,  but  he  began  to  think  that  it  wasn't  going  to  be 
quite  as  easy  to  locate  Wiley  College  as  his  guide  had  in 
timated.  He  did  very  soon  come,  however,  to  an  en 
trance  opening  on  a  wide  driveway,  flanked  on  either 
side  by  imposing  brick  and  stone  pillars  mounted  with 
what  appeared  to  be  large  electric  globes.  An  auto 
mobile  was  coming  down  the  driveway.  When  it  had 
passed,  J.  W.  stepped  inside  the  gates  to  discover  what 
sort  of  a  private  estate  or  public  institution  he  had 
come  upon.  The  place  was  admirably  kept,  the  drives 
were  shaded,  many  trees  were  scattered  about  the 
grounds,  and  there  were  numerous  buildings  of  va 
rious  sorts.  "I  don't  know  what  this  place  is,"  said 
J.  W.  to  himself,  "but  I'm  going  to  find  out." 

With  this  observation  he  walked  up  the  driveway  to 
ward  what  appeared  to  be  the  central  building  of  the 
group.  It  was  a  fine  brick  structure,  apparently  new, 
and  with  its  many  windows  J.  W.  thought  that  it 
might  serve  for  almost  any  purpose  from  library  to 
tuberculosis  sanitarium.  Just  then  his  eye  caught  the 
letters  at  the  top — W-I-L-E-Y.  So  this  was  Wiley ! 
He  had  made  a  poor  guess;  but  you  must  admit  it 
wasn't  what  J.  W.  had  every  reason  to  expect  in  a 
college  for  Negroes. 

He  entered  the  building,  and  on  a  door  at  the  right 
he  read,  "President's  Office." 

"I  guess  this  is  where  I  had  better  stop  and  get  my 
bearings,"  thought  J.  W.  as  he  quietly  opened  the  door 
and  stepped  inside. 

Within  sat  a  young  woman,  busily  engaged  at  a 


A  SURPRISE  95 

typewriter.  She  turned  as  J.  W.  entered,  and  he  in 
quired,  "Is  the  president  in  ?" 

"He  is  out  of  the  city  to-day,"  said  the  young 
woman,  "but  the  dean  is  here.  Would  you  like  to 
speak  to  him?" 

Of  course  J.  W.  would  be  pleased  to  speak  to  the 
dean,  or  to  anybody  else  in  a  place  like  this,  and  so  he 
was  ushered  into  the  dean's  office.  At  first  he  thought 
the  dean  must  be  occupied  elsewhere,  as  there  was  no 
one  but  a  young  colored  man  in  the  room.  "Is  the  dean 
in?"  asked  J.  W.  hesitatingly. 

"He  is,"  said  the  young  man,  smiling.  "What  can 
I  do  for  you?" 

"I  wasn't  sure  that  you  were  the  dean,"  said  J.  W. 
"I  am  a  Methodist  layman,  and  every  year,  I  suppose, 
I  make  a  contribution  to  the  work  of  our  Board  of 
Education  for  Negroes.  I  understand  that  this  is  one 
of  the  nineteen  schools  under  the  auspices  of  the  Board, 
and,  as  I  chanced  to  be  in  town  on  other  business,  I 
thought  that  I  would  take  the  opportunity  of  coming 
out  to  get  a  glimpse  of  what  you  are  doing." 

"We  certainly  are  delighted  to  have  you  come,"  said 
the  dean.  "I  am  sorry  our  president  is  away.  He  will 
be  disappointed  at  missing  a  visitor  from  the  North. 
He  is  a  remarkable  man,  and  has  given  the  best  of  his 
life  to  the  building  up  of  this  school.  He  is  himself  a 
graduate  of  Rust  College,  in  Mississippi,  another  one 
of  the  schools  under  the  Board  of  Education  for  Ne 
groes.  In  his  absence  let  me  have  the  pleasure  of 
showing  you  through  the  buildings  and  around  the 


96  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

grounds.  We  can  get  into  some  of  the  classes,  too,  if 
you  would  like  to  see  them.  This  building  serves  as  our 
main  recitation  hall,  and  you  will  find  that  we  are 
quite  proud  of  it.  We  might  begin  in  the  basement, 
and  visit  each  floor  in  order. 

"At  present,"  he  continued,  as  they  went  down 
stairs,  "we  are  conducting  our  classes  in  domestic 
science  and  domestic  art  down  here." 

With  this  he  opened  a  door,  and  J.  W.  stepped  into 
a  large,  well-lighted,  steam-heated  room.  A  group  of 
some  twenty  girls,  their  dresses  protected  by  neat 
aprons,  were  handling  shining  utensils,  evidently  en 
gaged  in  the  fascinating  occupation  of  preparing  some 
thing  for  the  oven.  "Is  this  a  part  of  your  regular 
work?"  inquired  J.  W. 

"Yes,  for  the  girls,"  replied  his  guide.  "You  see, 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  cooperates  in 
this,  and  in  the  work  in  domestic  art.  That  society 
supplies  the  teachers,  and,  in  this  case,  we  supply  the 
rooms.  In  some  of  the  schools  the  classes  of  this  sort 
are  conducted  in  'Homes,'  which  are  maintained  by  the 
society.  We  have  one  such  'Home'  here  too.  It  is 
just  across  from  the  campus.  The  girls  there  get 
special  training  in  the  art  of  housekeeping  and  in  home- 
making." 

Across  the  hall  J.  W.  had  a  chance  to  see  the  classes 
in  millinery  and  dressmaking,  and  then  from  room  to 
room  they  went  throughout  the  entire  building.  Many 
were  engaged  in  recitations;  one  class  was  at  work  in 
an  excellent  chemical  laboratory,  and  another  in  the 


A  SURPRISE  97 

physics  laboratory ;  there  was  a  moderate-sized  assem 
bly  hall  fitted  with  stationary  chairs,  and  everywhere 
the  rooms  were  neat,  clean  and  unmarred. 

As  J.  W.  progressed  his  amazement  grew.  "This 
certainly  is  a  remarkable  building!"  he  ejaculated.  "I 
haven't  been  long  out  of  college,  but  this  is  a  better 
building  than  we  had  to  study  in  when  I  was  in  school." 

"Would  you  like  to  visit  one  of  the  classes?"  said 
the  dean. 

J.  W.  remembered,  with  a  little  shrinking  from  such 
an  ordeal,  the  occasional  visitors  who  dropped  into 
classes  at  Cartwright.  But  he  was  honestly  interested. 
So  he  said,  "I  believe  I  would." 

The  class  was  studying  sociology  and  a  rather  heated 
debate  was  on,  over  the  eternal  question  whether  en 
vironment  or  heredity  was  the  more  important  factor 
in  influencing  an  individual's  prospects.  The  teacher 
acted  as  a  good-natured  referee,  and  made  his  con 
tribution  from  time  to  time  to  the  discussion.  All  this 
reminded  J.  W.  how  short  had  been  the  time  since  his 
own  college  days.  The  teacher  handed  him  a  textbook 
and,  to  his  surprise,  he  found  that  it  was  the  identical 
textbook  he  himself  had  used  so  recently.  Just  why 
he  should  have  been  surprised  he  could  not  quite  know. 
Certainly,  sociology  is  sociology,  regardless  of  the  com 
plexion  of  the  students.  And  yet,  if  he  had  not  ex 
pected  something  different,  at  least  he  had  not  ex 
pected  something  quite  so  familiar. 

Leaving  the  sociology  class,  there  followed  an  ex 
cursion  around  the  grounds  and  a  look  at  some  of  the 


98  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

other  buildings.  They  saw  several  brick  dormitories, 
one  of  them  so  large  as  to  call  forth  an  exclamation  of 
surprise  from  J.  W. 

"Yes,  that's  a  pretty  large  dormitory,"  said  the  dean, 
"but  it's  filled,  as  are  all  the  others.  It's  one  of  the 
largest  buildings  around  this  part  of  the  country. 
Probably,  if  it  was  being  built  now,  it  wouldn't  be 
made  quite  so  tall ;  they  spread  buildings  out  now  more 
than  they  used  to.  We  couldn't  well  get  along  without 
that  building,  though." 

"And  what's  this?"  said  J.  W.,  as  they  passed  a 
long,  low,  neat  building,  evidently  new. 

"That?"  said  the  guide.  "That's  our  refectory. 
"We've  had  it  only  about  a  year.  We  used  to  be 
obliged  to  do  our  cooking  in  the  basement  of  the  dor 
mitories,  and  to  eat  down  there  too.  It  kept  the  whole 
building  smelling  of  food  all  the  time,  and  it  wasn't  a 
very  good  place  to  eat,  anyway.  Now  we  feed  all  of 
the  students  in  here  at  one  time.  We  have  space  for 
six  hundred  at  the  tables.  We  have  a  large,  well- 
equipped  kitchen,  and  the  arrangement  is  very  much 
better  in  every  way.  Some  of  the  pupils  help  at  meal 
time,  and  they  pay  for  their  board  that  way." 

"And  here's  an  athletic  field,  too,  I  see,"  said  J.  W., 
"with  bleachers  and  everything." 

"Yes,  we  make  a  good  deal  of  athletics,"  said  the 
dean.  "The  boys  will  soon  be  out  here  playing  baseball 
now.  We  have  football  and  basketball  too." 

As  they  walked  back  across  the  campus  the  dean 
pointed  out  a  number  of  comfortable  homes  near  the 


A  SURPRISE  99 

school  grounds,  where  former  graduates  were  living, 
and  he  briefly  told  J.  W.  of  some  of  their  successes  in 
the  field  of  business  and  elsewhere. 

"Who  lives  in  this  house  ?"  said  J.  W.  as  they  passed 
a  beautiful  white  house  on  the  campus. 

"That's  the  president's  home,"  said  the  dean. 

"And  what's  this?"  exclaimed  J.  W.,  as  they  sud 
denly  came  upon  what  was  in  its  outer  aspect  the  most 
beautiful  building  they  had  yet  seen. 

"I've  been  saving  this  to  the  last  on  purpose,"  said 
the  dean.  "This  is  our  Carnegie  Library.  Ours  is 
one  of  the  relatively  few  Negro  schools  to  which  An 
drew  Carnegie  saw  fit  to  give  a  library.  At  present  we 
are  using  the  upper  floor  as  a  chapel.  Our  chapel 
burned  some  time  ago,  and  we  very  much  need  an 
other.  The  upper  floor  of  this  building  is  the  only 
place  we  have  that  is  big  enough  to  hold  all  our  pupils. 
We  are  getting  along  quite  well  that  way,  as  a  tem 
porary  measure,  but  we  must  have  a  new  chapel  as  soon 
as  possible." 

When  they  were  back  once  more  in  the  dean's  office 
J.  W.  said :  "The  school  is  wonderful,  in  its  way.  But 
I  am  even  more  interested  in  folks.  I  wish  you  would 
tell  me  about  yourself." 

"I  am  afraid  there  isn't  much  of  interest  to  tell," 
said  the  dean.  "I  was  born  almost  within  stone's 
throw  of  this  campus.  My  father  was  a  Methodist 
minister,  and  so,  of  course,  we  moved  around  more  or 
less.  I  got  most  of  my  education  right  here  in  Mar 
shall.  I  graduated  from  the  college  here  a  few  years 


ioo  ].  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

ago  and  then  studied  at  Harvard  University,  specializ 
ing  in  education.  For  two  years  I  acted  as  a  sort  of 
assistant  to  the  president  here,  and  when  the  dean  was 
elected  president  of  another  school,  I  was  made  dean. 
Some  people  told  the  president  that  I  was  too  young 
for  so  much  responsibility,  but  he  seemed  to  think  I 
was  the  man  for  the  job.  I  certainly  enjoy  it.  This  is 
a  great  school,  but  the  president  and  I  have  some  ideas 
for  making  it  even  better  than  it  is  now." 

"I  don't  mind  telling  you,"  said  J.  W.,  "that  the  last 
few  hours  to  me  have  been  full  of  surprises.  I  didn't 
expect  to  find  any  such  school  as  this  down  here.  Are 
the  other  schools  of  the  Board  of  Education  for  Ne 
groes  anything  like  this?" 

"Well,  I  have  visited  only  a  few  of  them,"  said  the 
dean.  "Of  course  we  like  to  think  of  our  school  as  the 
best  one  of  the  lot.  Three  of  the  schools  on  the  Board's 
list  are  professional  schools,  and  different  on  that  ac 
count.  Then  there  are  several  which  do  not  give  any 
college  work.  Clark  University  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  is 
supposed  to  be  one  of  the  leading  schools.  It  has  a 
large  campus  and  a  wonderful  new  school  building 
made  possible  by  the  Centenary.  Morgan  College  has 
recently  been  moved  to  a  beautiful  new  campus  just 
outside  of  the  city  of  Baltimore,  and  I  understand  that 
Bennett  College  in  North  Carolina  is  being  practically 
remade.  Claflin  College  too,  in  South  Carolina,  has 
had  a  wonderful  development.  Then  there's  Rust  Col 
lege  at  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi,  and  Samuel  Huston 
College  down  here  at  Austin,  Texas.  They've  all  done 


A  SURPRISE  101 

fine  work.  It's  hard  to  make  comparisons  between 
them.  They  say  that  Haven  Institute  at  Meridian,  Mis 
sissippi,  has  one  of  the  finest  campuses  now.  They 
got  a  chance  to  purchase  the  entire  outfit  of  a  white 
girls'  college  at  a  very  modest  price.  They  have  a  big 
farm,  some  large  and  beautiful  buildings,  and,  I  am 
told,  nearly  forty  pianos.  They  are  making  quite  a 
specialty  of  music,  and  also  of  their  Business  Depart 
ment.  They  have  a  swimming  pool,  running  water  in 
every  dormitory  room,  and  some  other  unique  fea 
tures. 

"In  one  respect,  however,"  the  dean  continued,  "we 
excel  all  the  schools,  I  believe." 

"What's  that?"  asked  J.  W. 

"I  think  we  have  the  largest  College  Department  of 
any  of  the  schools.  This  year  we  have  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  in  that  department." 

"How  do  you  account  for  that?"  said  J.  W.  "Is  it 
because  Texas  is  such  a  big  State?" 

"Well,  Texas  is  a  big  State,  all  right,"  laughed  the 
dean,  "as  big  as  all  the  Atlantic  States  from  Maine  to 
Virginia  inclusive.  And  we  get  a  good  many  students 
from  other  States  too.  But  the  size  of  Texas  doesn't 
account  for  our  College  Department.  It's  partly  be 
cause  we  have  quite  a  number  of  high  schools  for  Ne 
groes  in  this  part  of  the  country.  You  know  in  some 
Southern  States  there  are  almost  no  public  high  schools 
for  colored  pupils  at  all.  That  makes  it  hard  for  col 
leges  to  do  regular  college  work.  There's  no  way  for 
them  to  get  prepared  pupils." 


102  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"What  are  your  departments  besides  your  College 
Department?"  asked  J.  W. 

"In  addition  to  our  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences 
we  have  a  Preparatory  School,  a  Normal  School,  a 
Grammar  School,  a  Commercial  School,  and  a  Music 
School.  We  also  give  a  special  pre-medical  course  for 
those  who  are  planning  to  study  medicine." 

"It  seems  to  me  that  you're  doing  pretty  well  here 
now,"  said  J.  W.,  "but  I  suppose  you  have  what  the 
Centenary  people  call  'unmet  needs.'  What  do  you 
need  most  at  present?" 

"I'm  not  sure  what  the  president  would  say,"  an 
swered  the  dean,  "but  I  would  say,  as  I  think  he  would 
too,  endowment.  We  desperately  need  endowment. 
We've  got  a  pretty  good  equipment,  and  a  fine  student 
body,  and  this  school  can  become  a  great  and  permanent 
power  if  its  future  can  be  insured  by  endowment.  At 
present  we  live  from  hand  to  mouth,  and  it's  a  rather 
precarious  existence. 

"By  the  way,"  he  continued,  "there  is  one  thing  I 
forgot  to  mention.  We  now  have  our  school  year  di 
vided  into  four  quarters,  so  that  the  school  is  in  opera 
tion  practically  the  year  around.  Pupils  are  admitted 
at  the  beginning  of  any  quarter.  You  see  the  summer 
is  a  pretty  good  time  for  school  down  here  in  this 
cotton  country.  After  the  crop  is  'laid  by'  there  isn't 
so  much  to  do  while  it's  growing.  Then  every  summer 
we  have  a  summer  school  for  public-school  teachers 
here.  During  those  weeks  we  have  two  fully  organized 
schools  in  operation  at  the  same  time.  Every  spring, 


A  SURPRISE  103 

too,  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Exten 
sion  holds  a  school  for  colored  rural  pastors  here.  Oh, 
we  keep  busy  enough." 

"I'm  so  interested  in  what  you  have  been  saying  that 
I  could  listen  for  a  long  time,"  said  J.  W.,  "but  I  must 
be  going.  I  have  already  taken  up  'most  all  of  your 
afternoon." 

"It's  been  a  pleasure  for  me,"  said  the  dean.  "If  you 
ever  chance  to  be  in  town  again,  be  sure  to  come  out 
and  see  us.  The  next  time  the  president  will  probably 
be  here,  and  out  of  his  long  experience  he  can  tell  you 
many  things  which  I  do  not  know." 

The  evening  train  which  J.  W.  at  first  had  intended 
to  take  had  left  long  before  he  returned  to  his  hotel, 
but  that  was  a  matter  of  minor  concern.  He  would 
lose  no  time  thereby.  It  merely  meant  getting  up  early 
the  next  morning.  He  felt,  however,  that  his  intel 
lectual  stature  had  increased  about  an  inch  that  after 
noon,  and  he  could  afford  to  get  up  early  for  a  good 
many  mornings  rather  than  to  have  missed  the  op 
portunity  which  he  had  just  enjoyed.  He  had  some 
thing  to  take  home  to  Pastor  Drury,  and  he  imagined 
that  he  had  learned  a  few  facts  with  which  even  that 
good  man,  usually  so  well  informed,  was  unfamiliar. 

A  week  after  his  experience  in  Marshall,  J.  W.'s 
travels  brought  him  to  Austin,  the  capital  city  of  Texas. 
By  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  of  his  stay  he  had 
completed  his  business  calls,  and  he  took  a  stroll  along 
the  broad  avenue  leading  to  the  State  Capitol  building. 
It  was  a  beautiful  day,  and  J.  W.  almost  imagined  that 


104  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

he  was  in  Washington,  as  he  approached  the  majestic 
State  building,  which  is  patterned  after  the  nation's 
Capitol. 

He  admired  the  building  and  grounds  for  a  time,  and 
then  followed  a  street  which  turned  to  the  right.  He 
had  gone  several  blocks  past  comfortable  dwellings 
when  he  saw  that  he  was  approaching  some  sort  of  a 
public  or  semi-public  institution.  Imposing  brick  build 
ings,  occupying  three  of  the  four  corners  formed  by 
two  intersecting  streets,  presented  themselves  to  view. 
In  front  of  one  of  them  stood  an  automobile,  and  just 
as  J.  W.  reached  the  spot  a  well-dressed  Negro  came 
out  and  started  toward  the  machine.  As  the  two  men 
met  J.  W.  paused  and  said,  "Pardon  me,  but  would  you 
mind  telling  me  what  this  institution  is?" 

"This,"  said  the  Negro,  "is  Samuel  Huston  College, 
a  school  for  Negroes  operated  by  the  Methodist  Epis 
copal  Church." 

"That's  the  church  to  which  I  belong,"  said  J.  W. 
"I  guess  J  must  be  one  of  the  stockholders  of  the  in 
stitution." 

"I  am  very  glad  to  meet  you,"  said  the  Negro. 
"Possibly  you  would  like  to  go  through  the  buildings." 

"That  would  be  a  pleasure,  I  am  sure,"  replied  J.  W., 
remembering  his  experience  at  Marshall,  "but  you  were 
just  leaving.  I  must  not  detain  you." 

"Well,  I  was  going  over  to  the  athletic  field,  where 
our  boys  are  playing  baseball  with  a  visiting  team  to 
day.  I  expect  the  game  has  already  begun,  and  a  few 
minutes  won't  make  any  difference." 


A  SURPRISE  105 

"That  sounds  interesting,"  said  J.  W.  "I  used  to 
play  baseball  myself." 

"Perhaps  you  would  like  to  go  over  to  the  game 
first,"  proposed  the  other.  "I  would  be  pleased  to  have 
you  ride  along,  if  you  care  to  do  so." 

"Why,  certainly,  I'll  go  with  you,"  said  J.  W. 
promptly. 

"Before  we  start  let  me  explain  to  you  what  these 
buildings  are,"  continued  his  guide.  "This  first  one  is 
our  main  college  building.  We  call  it  Burrowes  Hall, 
in  honor  of  a  friend  from  Maine  who  helped  the  school 
generously  in  the  early  days.  The  school  itself,  as  you 
perhaps  know,  was  named  after  an  Iowa  farmer  named 
Samuel  Huston,  who  helped  liberally  when  the  work 
was  in  its  first  stages.  The  large  brick  building  is  our 
dormitory,  and  the  other  brick  building  on  the  opposite 
corner  is  devoted  to  industrial  training.  The  building 
across  the  street  from  us  is  the  Eliza  Dee  Industrial 
Home  of  the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society.  I 
have  not  seen  all  of  the  Society's  Homes,  but  I  under 
stand  that  this  is  one  of  the  best  and  most  beautiful  of 
them  all." 

By  this  time  J.  W.  and  his  new  friend  were  in  the 
car,  and  on  their  way  to  the  ball  game.  As  they  went 
the  Negro  continued:  "This  school  has  had  a  rather 
unusual  history.  For  many  years  the  colored  people 
of  Texas  worked  to  get  it  started,  but  they  didn't  have 
very  good  luck.  They  got  as  far  as  the  basement  of 
one  building,  and  it  stood  for  sixteen  years  exposed  to 
the  weather,  unused.  It  was  only  about  twenty  years 


io6  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

ago  that  Dr.  R.  S.  Lovinggood  came  to  open  the  school. 
He  found  birds  nesting  in  the  rafters,  and  pigs  and 
goats  sleeping  in  the  partly  completed  basement.  The 
story  of  his  work  in  building  this  school  is  one  of  the 
romances  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
South.  Dr.  Lovinggood  was  a  remarkable  man.  When 
he  came  there  was  some  opposition  to  the  school  being 
established  where  it  is,  but  when  he  died  the  mayor  of 
Austin  and  the  City  Council  attended  the  funeral  in  a 
body.  Colonel  E.  M.  House,  who  lived  in  Austin,  said 
that  Dr.  Lovinggood  was  one  of  the  greatest  educators 
the  Negro  race  had  ever  produced." 

"It  sounds  as  though  we  had  come  to  a  band  concert 
instead  of  a  ball  game,"  said  J.  W.  as  the  car  ap 
proached  the  inclosed  grounds  from  which  music  and 
shouting  were  heard. 

"Yes,  we  have  a  pretty  good  college  band,  and  they 
always  get  out  on  occasions  like  this,"  said  his  com 
panion. 

Just  then  the  car  passed  inside  the  gates,  but  no  one 
noticed  it,  for  everybody's  attention  was  fixed  on  some 
thing  far  more  important.  A  home  team  player  had 
just  hit  a  ball  into  deep  center,  and  the  runner  who 
had  been  on  second  had  already  passed  third  base  and 
was  well  on  his  way  home.  The  band  was  playing 
boisterously,  and  several  hundred  students  and  friends 
in  the  grandstand  were  jumping,  shouting,  and  waving 
their  hands  in  approved  rooter  fashion. 

"I  haven't  heard  anything  like  that  since  I  was  in 
college,"  said  J.  W.  when  the  runner  had  crossed  the 


A  SURPRISE  107 

plate  and  the  uproar  had  somewhat  subsided.  "It  does 
me  good  just  to  hear  the  shouting."  Although  he 
spoke  casually,  he  was  conscious  inside  that  he  was 
far  more  surprised  than  he  was  willing  to  show.  He 
never  had  seen  a  ball  game  played  by  colored  teams,  and 
he  hadn't  quite  pictured  the  thing  in  his  mind  before. 
Baseball  was  what  it  was,  to  be  sure,  no  matter  who 
played  it,  but  in  his  heart  he  knew  that  this  game  was 
much  more  like  what  he  had  been  accustomed  to  in  his 
own  college  days  than  he  had  expected. 

He  stayed  through  ,the  remaining  innings  of  the 
game,  the  home  team  winning  handily,  to  the  delight  of 
the  assembled  crowd.  Then  he  rode  with  his  new 
friend  back  to  his  hotel. 

As  they  neared  the  hotel  J.  W.  turned  suddenly  to 
his  companion  and  said,  "Here  I  have  been  with  you 
most  of  the  afternoon  and  you  haven't  told  me  a  thing 
about  yourself.  I  take  it  for  granted  you  are  one  of 
the  teachers  at  Samuel  Huston  College  or  connected 
with  the  school  in  some  way?" 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  the  Negro.  "I  do  some  teaching 
there.  I  am  also  the  president.  That  was  my  house 
next  to  the  Eliza  Dee  Home.  I  am  not  sure  that  I 
pointed  it  out  to  you." 

"President?  And  here  I've  been  monopolizing  you 
all  afternoon !  Well,  I'll  admit  it  has  been  a  pleasure 
to  be  with  you  and  to  see  that  game,  even  if  our  meet 
ing  was  a  little  informal,"  said  J.  W.  "In  the  future 
I'll  know  what  folks  are  talking  about,  anyway,  when 
they  say  'Samuel  Huston  College.'  I  am  ready  to 


io8  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

believe  on  the  spot  that  you  are  doing  a  great  work 
for  your  people." 

"Well,  we  think  we  are  doing  some  things  worth 
while,"  said  the  president,  "but  it  is  by  the  help  of 
folks  like  you,  who  have  had  the  faith  to  support  the 
institutions  of  the  church  even  when  they  didn't  know 
all  about  them.  That  has  made  our  work  possible.  You 
know  there  is  a  verse  in  the  Bible  which  says,  'Blessed 
are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed.' 
Sometimes  I  think  of  that  verse  in  connection  with  our 
many  friends  who  have  never  seen  what  we  are  doing 
and  yet  have  believed  in  us  enough  to  help." 

J.  W.  had  one  more  opportunity  to  see  what  the 
church  was  doing  among  Negroes  before  he  was 
headed  for  home  at  the  end  of  his  trip.  He  had  been 
spending  several  days  in  New  Orleans,  and  on  Saturday 
afternoon  had  ridden  out  on  beautiful  Saint  Charles 
Avenue  to  New  Orleans  College,  another  Methodist 
Episcopal  School  for  Negroes.  Later  he  had  visited 
the  Flint-Goodridge  Hospital  and  Nurse  Training 
School,  located  in  another  part  of  the  city,  and  had 
come  to  see  something  of  the  beneficent  service  which 
that  unique  institution  was  rendering. 

It  was  while  he  was  making  these  visits  that  the  idea 
occurred  to  him  of  attending  a  Negro  church  service 
on  the  morrow,  Sunday.  His  inquiries  brought 
prompt  information,  and  the  next  morning,  with 
the  address  of  the  largest  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  in  the  city  for  Negroes  in  his  pocket,  he  set  out. 
He  thought  he  had  made  a  sufficiently  early  start,  but 


A  SURPRISE  109 

when  he  reached  the  church  he  found  every  seat  al 
ready  occupied  by  well-dressed  colored  people,  and 
still  others  were  standing.  The  problem  of  getting  a 
seat  did  not  long  worry  him,  however,  for  almost  be 
fore  he  knew  it  he  had  been  ushered  to  the  platform. 

It  was  evident  even  to  a  visitor  that  the  occasion  was 
a  special  one.  J.  W.  learned  later  that  the  congrega 
tion  always  filled  the  church  to  the  doors,  but  this 
morning  every  side  room  was  filled  also,  and  standing 
room  was  in  demand.  The  service  began  and  moved 
forward  in  orderly  fashion,  but  there  was  abundant 
evidence  of  anticipation  and  suppressed  excitement. 

At  last  the  secret  came  out.  It  appeared  that  the 
congregation  had  outgrown  the  church,  and,  what  was 
more  significant,  the  program  of  the  church  had  become 
altogether  too  varied  and  extensive  to  be  carried  on 
effectively  with  the  facilities  available.  If  the  work 
was  to  go  forward,  it  was  necessary  to  purchase  an  ad 
joining  property  and  build  for  the  enlarged  needs  of  the 
work. 

For  weeks  now  the  congregation  had  been  planning 
and  working  toward  a  special  offering  which  would 
make  possible  this  much-needed  forward  step,  and  this 
was  the  day  of  the  special  collection. 

At  last  the  time  for  the  offering  arrived,  and  J.  W. 
saw  a  sight  as  interesting  as  it  was  unexpected.  He  had 
been  accustomed  to  seeing  dignified  plate-bearers  pass 
down  the  aisles  and  collect  the  offering,  but  this  time 
the  collectors  took  their  places  by  the  altar,  and  the 
members  of  the  congregation  came  forward  to  them 


no  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

and  placed  their  offerings  for  the  church  on  large  tables. 
There  were  tottering  old  men  and  strong  young  men ; 
women  with  gray  hair  and  sprightly  young  maidens; 
boys  and  girls  of  various  ages.  It  seemed  as  though 
there  would  be  no  end  to  the  long  lines  of  folks.  And 
every  one  who  came  brought  something  to  put  on  the 
table.  Some  of  the  gifts  were  small  and  some  large, 
but  every  giver  seemed  to  be  a  happy  giver.  Quickly 
the  money  piled  up,  until  from  sheer  weariness  J.  W. 
ceased  to  wonder  how  much  it  might  be.  And  then 
they  sang,  first  the  songs  which  J.  W.  had  known  and 
loved  as  a  boy,  and  then  the  songs  which  had  come 
down  out  of  the  days  of  slavery — songs  of  thanksgiv 
ing,  songs  of  resignation,  and  songs  of  triumph.  Never 
had  J.  W.  heard  singing  quite  like  that  before. 

Meanwhile  the  money  was  being  counted,  and  at  last 
the  figures  were  ready  to  be  announced.  Even  J.  W. 
was  dumfounded  when  he  heard  the  announcement  of 
a  total  a  little  over  eight  thousand  dollars.  "Eight 
thousand  dollars  in  cash,"  thought  J.  W.,  "not  in 
pledges,  or  signed  cards,  or  promises  to  pay,  but  in 
good  American  cash !  I  wish  some  of  the  people  back 
home  could  see  this.  And  to  think  that  these  folk  or 
their  parents  a  few  years  ago  were  slaves.  It  looks  to 
me  that  if  the  church  ever  made  a  good  investment  it 
was  when  it  invested  money  in  its  missionary  work  for 
Negroes." 

That  night  at  the  hotel  before  going  to  bed  J.  W. 
wrote  a  long  letter  to  Jeannette.  We  are  not  at  liberty 
to  record  here  all  that  he  said,  but  that  part  of  the  com- 


A  SURPRISE  in 

munication  which  is  relevant  to  this  story  was  in  sub 
stance  as  follows: 

"I  am  getting  pretty  anxious  to  get  home.  This  trip 
has  been  long  enough,  and  I  think  that  by  the  last  of 
next  week  you  will  see  me  in  Delafield.  I  have  sold  a 
lot  of  goods  since  I  have  been  away,  but  I  have  also 
done  a  good  many  other  things  that  I  must  wait  to  tell 
you  about  until  I  get  home.  I  used  to  think  that  a  man 
was  educated  when  he  got  through  college,  but  I  have 
learned  so  much  since  I  left  school  that  I  have  about 
decided  that  I  didn't  know  much  of  anything  when  I 
graduated.  This  last  trip  has  been  a  wonderful  one  for 
me — in  fact,  it  seems  as  though  each  one  is  better  than 
the  last.  I  am  learning  to  keep  my  eyes  and  ears  open, 
in  places  that  seem  least  promising,  and  I  am  discov 
ering  many  things  that  are  good  for  me  to  see  and  hear. 
One  thing  in  particular  I  have  gained  out  of  this  trip; 
I  am  more  convinced  than  ever  that  in  a  great  country 
like  ours  the  question  of  a  man's  complexion  isn't  half 
as  important  as  the  question  of  what  kind  of  a  man  he 
really  is  inside.  We'll  get  a  chance  to  talk  this  over 
when  I  get  home,  and  I  can  tell  you  then  just  what  I 
mean." 


CHAPTER  V 
HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO? 

WHEN  J.  W.  visited  the  Flint-Goodridge  Hospital 
and  Nurse  Training  School  in  New  Orleans  he  had  had 
quite  an  extended  conversation  with  the  Negro  doctor 
who  was  serving  as  house  physician  for  the  institution. 
The  doctor  had  mentioned  in  passing  that  he  had  re 
ceived  his  medical  training  at  Meharry  Medical  College, 
Nashville,  Tennessee.  Now,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
up  to  that  time  J.  W.  had  hardly  heard  of  Meharry 
Medical  College,  and  he  had  forgotten,  if,  indeed,  he 
had  ever  known,  that  it  was  one  of  the  schools  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  However,  the  name 
had  stuck,  and  he  had  promised  himself  that,  if  he 
ever  got  to  Nashville,  he  would  make  it  a  point  to  visit 
the  school. 

It  was  not  until  the  March  following  his  visit  to 
New  Orleans  that  J.  W.  arrived  in  the  capital  city  of 
"Sunny  Tennessee."  He  had  not  forgotten  his  pur 
pose,  and  in  his  first  moments  of  leisure  he  took  occa 
sion  to  discover  the  location  of  the  college  and  the  street 
car  he  must  take  to  reach  it.  A  short  ride  brought  him 
to  the  school,  with  its  several  buildings  on  either  side 
of  a  city  street.  In  front  of  these  stood  a  number  of 

112 


HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO?     113 

automobiles,  which  J.  W.  learned  later  belonged  to  cer 
tain  of  the  professors  who  had  their  own  practice  in 
the  city,  and  who  gave  several  hours  each  week  regu 
larly  to  lecturing  at  the  college.  A  number  of  young 
men  and  women  were  passing  back  and  forth  from  one 
building  to  another.  Of  one  of  these  J.  W.,  as  his  cus 
tom  was,  made  inquiry  concerning  the  college  offices. 
He  was  directed  to  the  brick  building  immediately  in 
front  of  him,  and  he  entered  to  find  a  young-looking 
white  man  busily  engaged  at  a  flat-topped  desk  with 
some  papers. 

"Pardon  me,"  said  J.  W.  "My  name  is  Farwell.  I 
am  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and, 
as  I  happened  to  be  in  the  city,  I  thought  I  would  like, 
if  possible,  to  get  a  glimpse  of  your  school.  I  wonder 
if  I  could  meet  the  president  or  have  a  chance  to  talk 
with  someone  who  knows  about  the  work." 

In  the  light  of  earlier  experiences  he  was  not  greatly 
surprised  at  the  answer  he  got.  "I  am  supposed  to  be 
the  president,"  said  the  man  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye. 
"We  are  delighted  to  see  you,  and  it  will  be  a  pleasure 
for  me  to  tell  you  about  what  we  are  doing  and  to  show 
you  through  our  buildings. 

"By  the  way,"  he  continued,  "where  do  you  come 
from?" 

"I  am  traveling  out  of  Saint  Louis,"  said  J.  W. 

"We  have  a  good  many  graduates  in  Saint  Louis," 
commented  the  president.  "I  believe  we  have  consider 
ably  more  than  a  hundred  altogether  in  Missouri,  count 
ing  doctors,  dentists,  and  pharmacists." 


H4  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"Oh,  do  you  graduate  dentists  and  pharmacists  too?" 
asked  J.  W. 

"Oh,  yes,"  the  president  assured  him.  "We  have 
thriving  Dental  and  Pharmaceutical  Departments,  and 
in  addition  to  our  Medical  Department  recently  we 
have  added  a  Nurse  Training  Department." 

"Do  most  of  your  graduates  go  South  to  practice?" 
said  J.  W. 

"Well,  they  are  all  over  the  South,"  answered  the 
president,  "but  they  are  also  scattered  all  through  the 
North  and  in  most  of  the  Western  States  to  California 
and  Oregon.  We  have  more  than  three  hundred  and 
fifty  graduates  here  in  Tennessee,  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  in  Georgia,  nearly  as  many  in  Texas  and  so  on 
in  varying  numbers  in  the  other  Southern  States.  In 
the  North  we  have  some  in  New  York  and  New  Jer 
sey,  more  in  Ohio,  and  in  and  around  Chicago  we  have 
a  great  many.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  have  graduates 
in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  in  thirty-eight  States 
of  the  Union.  Besides  that,  about  fifty  of  our  gradu 
ates  are  in  foreign  countries." 

"I  didn't  realize  that  your  work  was  so  extensive," 
said  J.  W.  "The  college  must  be  an  old  one." 

"It  was  organized  in  1876,  and  the  man  who  started 
it  is  living  here  now.  Perhaps  you  noticed  that  fine 
brick  house  on  the  left.  That  is  his  home.  The  alumni 
built  it  for  him  when  he  retired  and  became  president 
emeritus  about  a  year  ago.  I  have  been  in  charge  since 
then.  At  first  the  Medical  Department  was  started  as 
a  department  of  Walden  College,  one  of  the  schools 


HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO?     115 

of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society — The  Board  of  Educa 
tion  for  Negroes  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
they  call  it  now.  Ten  years  later  the  Dental  Depart 
ment  was  added,  and  three  years  after  that  the  Phar 
maceutical  Department  was  included.  This  was  the 
first  medical  school  for  Negroes  west  of  the  Alleghe- 
nies.  The  school — or  rather  the  schools,  for  you  see 
we  have  four  distinct  schools — is  now  entirely  sepa 
rate  from  Walden. 

"Just  let  me  get  my  hat,"  continued  the  president, 
"and  I  will  go  with  you  through  the  buildings." 

"You  see,"  he  said  as  he  returned,  "this  was  the  first 
building.  We  use  it  now  for  our  offices,  and  we  have 
a  number  of  lecture  rooms  upstairs.  The  president  has 
always  lived  in  this  building  too.  Suppose  we  go  across 
the  street  and  begin  there." 

As  they  approached  the  neat,  substantial-looking 
brick  building  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  the 
president  continued,  "We  use  this  building  largely  for 
our  dental  and  pharmaceutical  work.  This  room  on 
the  left  is  our  pharmacy.  I  want  you  to  meet  the  doctor 
in  charge.  He  is  one  of  our  graduates.  He  has  been 
a  most  loyal  son  of  Meharry.  It  is  he  who  has  been 
practically  responsible  for  the  building  up  of  this  de 
partment.  Several  hundred  pupils  have  been  graduated 
from  the  department,  and  we  have  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  enrolled  in  it  now." 

J.  W.  and  his  guide  entered  the  pharmacy,  with  its 
tiers  of  bottle-filled  shelves,  met  the  doctor  in  charge, 
and  then  got  a  glimpse  of  the  laboratory  where  various 


ii6  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

students  were  at  work  compounding  mixtures  which 
reminded  J.  W.  of  his  own  experience  with  college 
chemistry. 

From  the  Pharmaceutical  Department  they  passed  to 
rooms  where  dental  students  were  busily  engaged  in 
manufacturing  and  vulcanizing  dental  plates,  and  to 
others  where  more  students  were  listening  to  lectures 
on  dental  subjects  or  were  engaged  in  the  discussion  of 
dental  matters  or  in  the  answering  of  questions.  At 
last  they  reached  the  top  floor  of  the  building,  and  the 
president  said,  as  he  stepped  aside  to  allow  J.  W.  to 
enter  the  rooms,  "This  is  our  dental  clinic." 

The  sight  which  met  J.  W.'s  eyes  was  worth  the 
climb.  The  room  was  a  large  one,  evidently  the  full 
length  of  the  building.  Many  windows  admitted  the 
sunlight,  and  facing  these  were  long  rows  of  modern 
dental  chairs,  occupied  by  patients  of  varying  ages. 
The  advanced  dental  students  of  the  school  were  busily 
at  work  under  the  direction  of  the  instructors.  Un 
sound  teeth  were  being  filled,  impressions  for  artificial 
sets  were  being  taken,  and  other  dental  activities  were 
in  progress. 

"This  looks  like  the  real  thing,"  said  J.  W. 

"Yes,  we  treat  thousands  of  cases  in  there," 
answered  the  president.  "Of  course  we  couldn't  do 
our  work  without  that  clinic." 

"Do  you  charge  anything  for  the  work  done  ?"  asked 
J.  W.  " 

"We  make  a  small  charge  for  the  materials,"  said 
the  president,  "when  the  patient  is  able  to  pay.  But 


HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO?     117 

we  charge  nothing  for  the  work  itself.  We  are  too  glad 
to  get  a  chance  to  do  it." 

"Some  of  the  work  would  never  be  done  at  all,  prob 
ably,  if  it  were  not  for  this  opportunity  to  get  it  done 
so  cheaply?"  remarked  J.  W.,  questioningly. 

"You're  right  there,"  said  the  president.  "Much  of 
it  could  never  be  done  if  it  were  not  for  this  clinic.  I 
guess  we  are  doing  a  little  missionary  work  as  well  as 
turning  out  dentists." 

When  they  were  once  more  on  the  street  the  presi 
dent  proceeded  to  point  out  the  college  buildings  which 
were  in  sight. 

"This  fine  building  next  door  is  the  G.  W.  Hubbard 
Hospital,  named  in  honor  of  the  president  emeritus. 
It  is  a  blessing  to  the  colored  people  of  Nashville,  and, 
of  course,  a  great  asset  to  the  school.  The  colored 
people  themselves  gave  the  first  money  for  the  erection 
of  this  hospital,  and  they  are  quite  proud  of  it.  That 
beautiful  brick  residence  next  to  it  is  the  home  built 
by  the  alumni  for  the  former  president,  upon  his  re 
tirement.  The  building  across  the  street  from  us  is 
the  Anderson  Anatomical  Hall.  It  was  the  gift  of  an 
alumnus  of  the  school,  who  chose  this  way  of  showing 
his  appreciation  for  what  Meharry  has  done  and  is 
doing  for  the  Negro.  The  building  next  to  it  is  the 
Meharry  Auditorium.  Down  the  street  a  little  further 
are  a  number  of  other  buildings  which  we  are  beginning 
to  use  now.  They  were  used  originally  for  Walden 
College,  but  since  that  institution  has  been  moved  to 
another  site,  we  are  to  have  the  use  of  those  buildings, 


n8  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

or  as  many  of  them  as  are  adapted  to  our  purposes.  We 
can  go  through  the  buildings,  and  then  I  want  you  to 
come  back  and  visit  some  of  our  classes.  You  ought 
to  call  on  the  former  president  too.  Then  we  have  a 
meeting  of  all  the  students  called  for  a  little  later. 
Possibly  you  would  like  to  attend  that." 

J.  W.  and  his  guide  made  a  hurried  trip  through 
the  hospital,  speaking  to  some  of  the  patients,  visiting 
the  operating  room,  and  meeting  the  doctor  in  charge 
and  some  of  the  nurses  in  training.  They  also  visited 
the  anatomical  hall,  where  J.  W.  saw  earnest  students 
engaged  in  a  sort  of  work  from  which  he  decided  he 
would  just  as  soon  be  excused,  and  then  they  walked 
down  the  street  until  they  got  a  glimpse  of  the  Walden 
buildings  which  were  being  added  to  the  school  equip 
ment. 

"You  will  see  the  auditorium  when  the  students  as 
semble,"  said  the  president,  "and  I  do  want  you  to  get 
into  at  least  one  class." 

And  so  J.  W.  found  himself  in  a  room  with  some 
sixty  students.  They  were  mostly  young  men,  but 
there  were  two  or  three  young  women.  The  teacher 
was  an  alert  Negro  doctor  apparently  of  middle  age. 
The  subject  had  to  do  with  the  practice  of  medicine. 
The  teacher  was  calling  for  reports  from  individual 
pupils  as  to  the  symptoms  which  might  be  expected  to 
show  themselves  in  connection  with  certain  diseases, 
and  the  sort  of  treatment  which  they  would  prescribe. 

J.  W.  was  surprised  not  only  at  the  sharp,  clear- 
cut  answers,  but  also  at  the  ease  with  which  the  students 


HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO?     119 

used  scientific  terms  of  which  he  did  not  so  much  as 
know  the  meaning.  The  hour  was  a  fascinating  one  for 
him.  He  did  not  learn  much  about  disease  or  the  prac 
tice  of  medicine,  but  at  least  he  came  to  a  fresh  realiza 
tion  of  the  fact  that  the  color  of  a  man's  skin  did  not 
necessarily  determine  his  intellectual  ability.  He  saw 
more  clearly  than  he  had  ever  seen  before  that  it  was 
hardly  safe  to  put  limits  upon  the  development  of  any 
individual.  If  these  Negro  students  were  capable  of 
becoming  good  physicians,  surgeons,  dentists,  and  phar 
macists,  then,  so  far  as  J.  W.  was  concerned,  he  could 
not  think  for  the  moment  of  any  realm  of  learning  or 
activity  into  which  they  might  not  delve  with  profit. 

After  the  class  was  dismissed  J.  W.  made  his  call 
upon  the  retired  president,  a  courtly  doctor  of  the  old 
school,  and  spent  with  him  a  delightful  half-hour. 

"I  wish,"  said  J.  W.  after  they  were  comfortably 
seated,  "that  you  would  tell  me  about  the  early  days  of 
the  school,  and  how  you  came  to  be  connected  with  it." 

"If  you  get  me  started  on  that  subject,  I  might  talk 
a  long  time,"  said  his  host.  "You  see,  I  am  an  old  man, 
and  I  haven't  much  to  do  now  but  talk.  This  school 
and  I  have  practically  grown  up  together,  so  I  know 
more  about  it  than  anything  else." 

"I  am  ready  to  listen  to  anything  you  will  say,"  said 
J.  W.  "I  am  not  easily  frightened." 

"In  a  way  I'll  have  to  begin  with  myself,"  said  the 
old  man.  "I  was  born  up  in  New  Hampshire  in  1841 ; 
that's  over  eighty  years  ago.  We  had  one  hundred 
acres  of  fairly  rough  land  and  kept  four  cows.  There 


120  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

weren't  many  kinds  of  farm  work  that  I  didn't  do  in 
those  days,  but  in  between  I  went  to  school — first  at 
the  public  school  and  then  at  the  academy.  I  taught 
school  for  several  years,  and  in  1864  I  came  South  to 
do  religious  work  among  the  soldiers.  I  expected  to  go 
to  Atlanta,  but  was  kept  in  Nashville  by  reason  of  the 
fact  that  the  railroads  had  been  torn  up.  While  I 
was  waiting  I  was  set  at  the  task  of  teaching  Negro 
soldiers.  After  the  war  I  continued  for  several  years 
to  teach  Negroes  in  the  public  schools  here.  Then  I 
took  up  the  study  of  medicine,  and  was  graduated  from 
the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of  Ten 
nessee.  I  had  begun  to  practice  medicine  when  Dr. 
R.  S.  Rust,  who  was  then  secretary  of  the  Freedmen's 
Aid  Society,  asked  me  to  undertake  the  establishment 
of  a  Medical  Department  in  connection  with  Central 
Tennessee  College,  the  school  later  to  be  known  as 
Walden  University.  I  agreed  to  undertake  the  job, 
and  I  have  worked  at  it  steadily  for  nearly  forty-five 
years.  In  more  than  forty  years  of  service  I  was 
absent  from  my  office  for  all  causes  a  total  of  twelve 
days.  In  some  respects  it  has  been  a  slow,  steady  task, 
but  there  has  been  some  progress.  Of  course  all  of 
these  buildings  have  been  built  since  I  came,  for  we 
began  with  nothing.  Then,  too,  we  have  graduated 
about  twenty-five  hundred  students,  of  whom  about 
twenty-two  hundred  are  still  living.  Our  enrollment 
has  increased  also.  This  year  I  think  we  have  nearly 
seven  hundred  in  all  departments." 
"Are  they  all  Methodists?"  said  J.  W. 


HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO?     121 

"Oh,  no,"  answered  the  old  man.  "We  don't  know 
any  denominational  line  when  it  comes  to  students.  We 
have  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  and  a  lot 
of  Baptists.  Occasionally  we  have  Catholic  students 
too.  The  Baptists  have  been  especially  loyal  to  the 
school,  and  'Meharry  Day'  is  celebrated  in  the  colored 
Baptist  churches  as  enthusiastically  as  in  Methodist 
churches.  We  have  had  the  cooperation  of  the  South 
ern  white  man  here,  also.  When  I  began  the  work  an 
ex-Confederate  surgeon  was  my  assistant.  Some  of 
the  best  white  doctors  in  town  have  helped  me  in  the 
work  for  many  years,  and  the  professors  at  Vanderbilt 
University,  that  remarkable  school  for  white  students 
which  is  only  a  few  blocks  from  us,  have  helped  in 
many  ways.  When  I  retired  from  the  presidency  a 
year  ago  some  of  the  local  papers  took  occasion  to  say 
some  very  nice  things  about  us  and  our  work." 

"What  kind  of  homes  do  most  of  your  students  come 
f  rom?"  asked  J.W. 

"For  the  most  part  from  poor  homes,"  continued 
the  doctor.  "A  good  many  of  them  were  born  in  such 
little  cabins  as  you  see  all  over  the  Southland.  They 
have  come  up  through  the  discipline  of  hard  work  and 
hard  study.  Many  of  them  are  graduates  of  other 
schools  under  the  auspices  of  the  Board  of  Education 
for  Negroes.  Most  of  them  are  working  their  way 
through  school. 

"Possibly  you  noticed  that  we  have  no  college  dormi 
tories.  We  expect  to  have  some  as  soon  as  possible, 
but  in  the  past  we  have  managed  without  them  because 


122  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

so  many  of  the  students  have  been  employed  all  over 
the  city.  Often  they  room  where  they  work.  Some  of 
them  tend  furnaces,  take  care  of  yards  and  do  other 
work  about  the  houses.  Some  work  in  tailor  shops, 
some  in  barber  shops  and  some  in  shoeshining  parlors. 
Some  wait  on  table,  others  wash  dishes,  and  some  serve 
as  porters.  One  boy  is  working  his  way  through  the 
Dental  Department  by  selling  pies.  A  good  many  of 
the  students  work  right  through  the  noon  hour  here 
and  get  along  on  two  meals  a  day.  In  the  summer 
vacation  they  scatter  in  all  directions.  Some  go  back 
to  the  farms,  some  teach  school  in  the  South,  and 
others  go  North  to  work  in  hotels,  on  Pullman  trains, 
on  river  boats,  or  in  factories,  where  they  seem  to 
have  little  trouble  in  getting  work.  If  I  do  say  it,  I 
think  we  get  the  pick  of  the  rising  generation  right 
here.  Occasionally  a  man  turns  out  bad,  but  most  of 
our  men  have  gone  out  to  live  wholesome  Christian 
lives  in  the  communities  to  which  they  have  gone." 

"I  don't  want  to  break  off  the  story,"  said  J.  W., 
"but  I  must  leave  in  a  moment,  and  I  want  to  ask  you 
one  more  question.  Why  was  the  school  named 
'Meharry'?" 

"That's  an  easy  one,"  laughed  the  old  man.  "It 
was  because  the  Meharry  brothers  in  the  early  days 
gave  the  money  which  made  the  work  possible.  Pos 
sibly  you  don't  know  who  the  'Meharry  brothers'  were, 
but  I  can  tell  you  quickly.  There  were  five  of  them  in 
all — Alexander,  Hugh,  David,  Samuel,  and  Jesse. 
Rather  substantial  names,  don't  you  think  ?  Well,  they 


HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO?     123 

were  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry.  Their  parents  came  to 
this  country,  got  out  into  western  Pennsylvania  and 
at  last  floated  down  the  Ohio  River  in  a  flatboat.  They 
chose  a  place  in  the  wilderness  of  Ohio,  and  there  they 
settled.  While  the  boys  were  still  young  the  father 
was  killed.  I  think  it  was  by  a  falling  tree,  as  he  was 
returning  home  from  a  camp  meeting.  At  any  rate, 
the  mother  was  left  with  a  family  of  five  boys  to  raise, 
and  she  did  her  task  well.  The  boys  were  all  loyal 
Methodists.  They  all  became  successful  farmers  ex 
cept  Alexander,  and  he  became  a  Methodist  minister. 
Through  Dr.  Rust  they  became  interested  in  this  proj 
ect  of  establishing  a  medical  school  for  Negroes.  They 
all  gave  toward  it,  and,  although  their  gifts  would  not 
be  considered  large  to-day,  they  did  make  the  work  pos 
sible,  and,  before  they  finished  giving,  their  contribu 
tions  amounted  to  quite  a  number  of  thousand  dollars. 
They  were  devoted  friends  of  the  school  until  their 
death.  Of  course  they  are  all  dead  now." 

"The  Meharry  brothers  certainly  did  a  fine  tiling 
when  they  provided  that  money,"  said  J.  W.  as  he  rose 
to  leave,  "but  what  good  would  the  money  have  done 
without  someone  like  you  to  stay  on  the  job  for  so  many 
years  ?  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  record  of  your 
personal  achievement  here  would  be  hard  to  equal, 
and  now  that  you  are  an  old  man  I  am  not  afraid  of 
making  you  vain  by  saying  so.  I  judge  you  haven't 
grown  rich  at  the  task,  but  your  life  work  has  affected 
the  welfare  of  a  race  and  of  a  nation.  The  recollection 
of  that  fact  ought  to  bring  you  more  satisfaction  than 


124  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

any  amount  of  money  could  in  these  days  when  for 
the  first  time  you  have  the  leisure  to  look  back  over  the 
busy  days  that  have  passed.  I  consider  it  an  honor  to 
have  met  you,  and  I  hope  you  may  live  many  years  to 
see  Meharry  become  more  useful  than  even  you  have 
dared  to  forecast." 

That  was  quite  a  speech  for  J.  W.,  but,  as  he  thought 
it  over  after  he  was  outside,  he  decided  that  the  occasion 
demanded  nothing  less.  As  he  came  out  the  students 
were  just  gathering  in  the  auditorium,  and  the  presi 
dent  was  waiting  for  him. 

"This  assembly  is  called  for  a  special  purpose  to 
day,"  said  the  president.  "You  will  see  what  that  is 
when  I  speak.  We  didn't  know  that  we  were  going  to 
have  company,  but  I  want  you  to  come  up  on  the  plat 
form  with  me,  even  if  I  do  most  of  the  talking." 

"If  you  please,"  said  J.  W.,  "I  would  prefer  to  sit 
on  the  back  seat  and  watch  the  proceedings  from  there. 
I'm  not  the  platform  kind." 

"If  that  suits  you  better,"  said  the  president,  "we 
will  let  it  go  that  way." 

The  room  was  already  nearly  filled  as  they  entered. 
J.  W.  found  a  vacant  seat  in  the  rear,  and  the  presi 
dent  made  his  way  to  the  platform.  In  a  moment  all 
was  quiet,  and  the  president  rose  to  speak. 

"Men,"  said  he,  "I  have  called  you  together  to-day 
for  a  very  definite  purpose.  What  I  have  to  say  will 
not  take  much  time,  and  most  of  you  do  not  need  to 
have  me  say  it.  In  so  large  a  group  of  students,  how 
ever,  there  are  bound  to  be  some  who  either  do  not 


HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO?     125 

fully  understand  what  is  required  of  them  or  who  get 
careless  in  the  fulfillment  of  their  obligations.  It  is 
perhaps  unnecessary  for  me  to  remind  you  that  this 
institution  has  some  rules — some  very  definite  rules.  I 
did  not  make  those  rules,  but  we  all  understand  what 
they  are.  They  are  clearly  printed  in  the  catalogue 
of  the  school,  and  it  is  stated  there  that,  'Every  stu 
dent,  by  matriculation,  is  regarded  as  having  pledged 
to  observe  these  and  all  other  regulations  of  the  insti 
tution.  Those  who  are  unwilling  to  keep  this  pledge 
are  urged  not  to  apply  for  admission.'  It  chances  to  be 
my  responsibility  to  see  that  the  rules  of  the  institution 
are  enforced,  and  this  I  propose  to  do  without  fear  or 
favor.  It  has  come  to  my  attention  that  some  of  you 
have  grown  careless  at  certain  points  in  regard  to  the 
keeping  of  these  regulations,  and,  in  order  that  there 
may  be  no  misunderstanding,  I  want  to  read  to  you 
some  extracts  from  the  rules  as  printed : 

"  'Meharry  Medical  College  reserves  the  right  to  dis 
miss  students  at  any  time  if  they  are  considered  unsat 
isfactory,  no  definite  charge  being  necessary. 

"  'Profanity,  gambling,  betting,  are  not  tolerated  by 
the  institution.  Students  who  engage  in  the  same  are 
invariably  dismissed. 

"  The  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  is  also  strictly  for 
bidden. 

"  'The  use  of  tobacco  in  any  form  is  not  allowed  on 
the  college  grounds  or  about  the  buildings.  Students 
are  not  permitted  to  visit  questionable  places  of  amuse 
ment. 


126  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"  'Immoral  or  unworthy  conduct  while  absent  from 
the  institution  will  render  the  student  subject  to  dis 
cipline.' 

"That  sounds  to  me  like  good  clear  English,  and  I 
believe  we  all  understand  what  it  means.  Any  infrac 
tions  of  those  rules  will  be  treated  with  vigor.  I  am 
sure  that  you  men  understand  the  spirit  of  the  school, 
and  that  you  will  cooperate  in  seeing  that  the  rules  are 
observed.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  men  go 
ing  out  into  the  professions  which  you  have  chosen 
shall  go  out  with  high  ideals,  and  morally  clean.  Here, 
however,  we  have  an  added  responsibility.  This  is  a 
church  school.  The  men  who  have  made  this  institu 
tion  possible  were  religious  men.  They  expect  us  to 
lead  clean  lives,  and  we  owe  it  to  them  and  to  ourselves 
to  live  up  to  those  expectations.  I  am  counting  on  you, 
and  I  know  you  will  not  fail  me.  I  did  feel,  however, 
that  this  frank  talk  with  you  might  clear  the  air  and 
help  you  to  understand  my  own  attitude  in  the  matter. 
I  trust  this  friendly  word  will  be  sufficient.  There 
have  been  recent  violations  of  the  rules.  If  these  are 
repeated  we  shall  be  forced  to  act  promptly  and  vig 
orously." 

After  the  assembly  was  dismissed  the  president 
joined  J.  W.  at  the  rear  of  the  room.  Smiling,  he  re 
marked  :  "If  you  heard  what  I  said,  I  guess  it  won't  be 
necessary  for  me  to  explain  further.  What  do  you 
think  of  our  auditorium,  anyway?  It  is  our  only  place 
for  large  assemblies.  We  have  our  Epworth  League, 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  other  religious  meetings  here.  The 


HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO?     127 

rooms  in  the  basement  are  available  for  laboratory  use. 
We  couldn't  get  along  without  this  building." 

"It  certainly  is  a  sight  to  be  remembered,"  said 
J.  W.,  "to  see  more  than  six  hundred  professional  stu 
dents  together,  all  of  them  Negroes.  Do  you  know  the 
question  which  came  into  my  mind  as  I  sat  here? 
Where  would  these  students  be  if  there  were  no  Me- 
harry?" 

"That's  hard  to  say,"  answered  the  president.  "It's 
a  safe  conclusion,  however,  that  most  of  them  would 
never  have  aspired  to  become  doctors,  dentists,  or  phar 
macists,  and,  if  they  had  cherished  such  aspirations, 
circumstances  would  have  kept  most  of  them  from  car 
rying  out  their  ambitions.  You  see,  Meharry  has  be 
come  an  ideal  to  the  Negro.  He  thinks  of  the  school 
as  his  school  and,  then,  for  him  it  offers  some  things 
that  other  schools  do  not  offer.  Howard  University  in 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  Meharry  were  the  pioneers  in 
medical  education  for  Negroes.  Of  course,  theoreti 
cally,  the  medical  schools  of  the  North  are  open  to 
Negroes,  but  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  difficult  for 
a  Negro  to  get  into  one  of  those  schools.  They  are 
often  very  unwelcome,  and  there  are  ways  of  keep 
ing  them  out.  Some  schools  don't  object  to  one  or  two, 
but  they  would  very  quickly  put  up  the  bars  if  large 
numbers  began  to  arrive.  Then,  too,  for  most  of  them 
the  cost  is  practically  prohibitive.  Here  we  seek  to 
keep  the  cost  at  the  lowest  possible  figure,  and  there  are 
many  opportunities  for  the  students  to  work  for  part  or 
all  of  their  expenses." 


128  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"I  suppose  the  need  for  Negro  doctors  is  great?" 
said  J.  W. 

"It  surely  is — almost  beyond  belief,"  said  the  presi 
dent.  "We  get  the  most  urgent  letters  from  communi 
ties  asking  for  doctors,  but  the  really  deepest  needs  are 
the  unspoken  ones.  The  Negro  needs  medicine,  sur 
gery,  sanitation,  hygiene,  and  instruction  in  food 
values,  the  care  of  infants,  and  in  a  multitude  of  other 
subjects.  The  cost  in  human  life  of  the  general  igno 
rance  is  simply  appalling,  and  the  white  man  can  no 
more  afford  to  allow  it  to  go  on  than  can  the  black 
man.  The  only  way  out  of  the  abyss  of  ignorance  is 
instruction,  instruction,  and  then  more  instruction.  The 
stream  of  leaders  which  we  are  sending  out  from  Me- 
harry,  and  which  we  will  continue  to  send  out,  is  bound 
to  play  an  important  part  in  saving  the  Negro  from  un 
necessary  suffering,  disease,  and  death." 

"How  did  you  yourself  get  into  this  work?"  asked 
J.  W.,  as  ever  interested  in  the  personal  element. 

"I  guess  it's  because  I  am  by  habit  a  missionary,  and 
I  think  of  this  as  a  missionary  task  for  the  benefit  of 
an  entire  race,"  answered  the  doctor.  "I  was  born  in 
England,  but  I  was  educated  in  the  United  States.  I 
was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age.  When  I  had  fin 
ished  school,  including  medical  college,  I  went  to  China 
as  a  medical  missionary.  I  had  some  experiences  over 
there,  I  can  assure  you,  including  fighting  the  plague. 
After  a  time  I  came  back  to  the  United  States  and  be 
came  a  teacher.  I  was  then  called  to  take  charge  of 
this  school,  and,  frankly,  it's  a  pretty  big  task." 


HOW  FAR  CAN  THE  NEGRO  GO?     129 

"It  must  be  a  heavy  load,"  said  J.  W.,  "but  you  have 
many  encouragements." 

"Yes,  there  are  many  things  to  encourage  us,"  said 
the  president,  "but  just  now  we  are  operating  under 
an  enormous  handicap." 

"What  is  that?"  said  J.W. 

"To  put  it  bluntly,"  answered  the  president,  "it  is 
the  lack  of  money.  We  desperately  need  half-a-mil- 
lion  dollars.  You  understand,  doubtless,  that  medical 
schools  are  graded  into  classes,  and  they  must  measure 
up  to  certain  requirements  before  they  can  get  a  'class 
A'  rating.  These  requirements  cover  such  items  as  en 
dowment,  number  of  full-time  professors,  equipment, 
and  the  like.  Now,  we  think  that  we  are  turning  out 
well-drained  graduates,  but  in  several  respects  we  fall 
short  of  the  requirements  of  a  'class  A'  school.  In  all 
of  these  we  could  quickly  measure  up  to  standard  if  we 
had  the  money.  We  already  have  a  half  a  million 
dollars  of  endowment,  but  we  must  have  a  half  a  mil 
lion  more.  This  is  imperative,  and,  if  you  find  anyone 
who  wants  to  invest  a  half  a  million  dollars  in  a  propo 
sition  which  can  demonstrate  its  worth,  I  wish  you 
would  tell  him  that  here  is  the  chance.  Our  Negro 
graduates  have  to  take  the  same  State  examinations 
as  do  white  doctors,  and  in  a  number  of  States  the 
graduates  of  a  'class  B'  school  are  not  even  permitted 
to  try  the  examinations.  I  have  now  on  my  desk  two 
letters  asking  for  Negro  doctors,  and  both  of  them  come 
from  States  where  our  graduates  are  not  permitted  to 
take  the  examination.  This  situation  must  be  remedied. 


130  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

The  Carnegie  Foundation  and  the  General  Education 
Board,  both  of  which  organizations,  as  you  know,  in 
vestigate  an  institution  with  great  care  before  making  a 
contribution  to  it,  gave  us  recently  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  each.  That,  with  an  appropria 
tion  from  the  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes,  helped 
us  to  complete  our  first  half  a  million  of  endowment. 
Now  we  must  double  it  before  we  can  breathe  easy 
again." 

"Well,  that  is  a  proposition,"  said  J.  W.,  as  he  bade 
the  president  good-by.  "I  haven't  got  half  a  million 
dollars,  but  I'll  be  glad  to  help  what  I  can,  and  I  will 
agree  to  tell  some  other  folks  about  it  too.  You  may 
hear  from  me  yet." 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE 

THE  evening  after  J.  W.  had  visited  Meharry  Med 
ical  College  he  packed  his  grip,  went  down  to  the  rail 
road  station,  and  in  due  time  climbed  into  what  was 
recently  described  as  "that  modern  instrument  of  hu 
man  torture  known  as  a  Pullman  berth." 

For  J.  W.,  however,  there  was  little  torture,  this 
time  at  least.  He  was  ready  for  his  berth.  He  went 
to  sleep  in  the  city  of  Nashville,  and  the  next  morning 
he  awakened  in  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

J.  W.  had  been  looking  forward  to  this  trip  to  At 
lanta.  His  hobby  for  the  present  was  Negro  schools, 
and  he  was  as  enthusiastic  about  it  as  a  stamp  collector 
is  about  a  rare  issue.  He  did  not  allow  his  hobby  to  in 
terfere  with  his  business,  but  he  had  heard  so  much 
about  the  schools  at  Atlanta  that  he  had  somewhat  the 
feeling  of  a  collector  approaching  a  famous  specimen. 

It  was  Gammon  Theological  Seminary  which  was 
particularly  on  his  mind  at  the  moment.  He  had  known 
of  the  institution  vaguely  long  ago,  but  only  recently 
had  he  become  particularly  interested  in  it.  On  these 
Southern  trips  he  had  met  a  number  of  Negro  ministers 
who  had  told  him  that  they  received  their  theological 
training  at  Gammon,  and  all  of  them  had  spoken  in  the 


132  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

highest  terms  of  their  Alma  Mater.  The  idea  had  in 
some  way  come  to  him  that  the  institution  was  a  unique 
one  and  worth  seeing  and  since  he  was  in  Atlanta  he 
resolved  to  see  it. 

The  first  evening  in  the  city  he  looked  up  the  address 
of  the  school  and  made  inquiry  as  to  its  location.  The 
next  evening  he  called  up  the  school,  and  had  a  short 
conversation  with  one  of  the  professors  who  answered 
the  telephone,  and  the  third  afternoon  he  set  out  for 
the  campus.  He  had  been  told  that  it  was  situated  on 
the  very  edge  of  the  city,  and  he  had  settled  down  in 
the  street  car  for  a  rather  long  ride  when  the  conductor 
informed  him  that  the  next  stop  was  his. 

As  he  alighted  he  found  himself  at  the  entrance  to 
extensive,  shaded  grounds,  and  on  an  eminence  a  con 
siderable  distance  back  from  the  main  road  two  groups 
of  imposing  buildings  stood  out  in  bold  relief.  It 
looked  as  though  they  must  house  two  separate  institu 
tions  or  two  distinct  parts  of  the  same  institution.  One 
or  both  of  them  might  be  Gammon  Theological  Semi 
nary;  he  would  soon  find  out.  He  chose  the  attractive 
magnolia-shaded  drive  to  the  left,  and  followed  it  past 
several  well-built  houses  until  he  came  to  the  large  cen 
tral  brick  structure  which  he  had  observed  from  the 
distance.  Several  young  Negroes  stood  talking  on  the 
steps,  and  not  far  away  others  sat  in  the  shade  of  the 
trees,  apparently  studying  or  writing. 

"Is  this  Gammon  Theological  Seminary?"  inquired 
J.  W.  of  the  young  man  nearest  to  him. 

"It  is,"  was  the  reply. 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE     133 

"Can  you  tell  me  where  I  can  find  the  president?" 
continued  J.  W. 

"The  office  is  just  inside  this  building,"  was  the 
answer.  "I  think  you  will  find  him  in  there  now." 

J.  W.  entered  the  building  and  soon  spied  the  door 
marked,  "President's  Office." 

The  president  was  "in,"  the  attendant  informed  him, 
and  could  see  his  visitor  at  once.  And  so,  almost 
quicker  than  it  takes  to  tell  the  story,  J.  W.  was  seated 
facing  the  executive  head  of  the  institution  which  he 
had  come  to  visit. 

"And  what  can  I  do  for  you?"  said  the  president, 
smiling. 

"Possibly  you  will  understand  best,  if  I  tell  you  who 
I  am,"  said  J.  W. 

Once  again  he  found  himself  going  over  his  bit  of 
autobiography.  "I  am  merely  a  Methodist  layman,  and 
I  am  in  the  city  selling  goods.  But  I  did  not  come  out 
here  to  sell  anything;  rather  to  see  a  little  of  your 
school  and  to  learn  some  things  about  what  you  are 
doing  and  what  you  are  trying  to  do.  You  see,  I  have 
been  educated  in  the  theory  that  every  church  member 
ought  to  know  as  much  as  he  can  know  about  what  his 
church  is  doing,  and  I  try  to  live  up  to  the  theory  by 
improving  such  opportunities  for  observation  as  come 
my  way.  Being  just  now  a  traveling  man  with  a 
Southern  territory  I  am  having  rather  unusually  good 
fortune  in  this  respect.  I  have  already  visited  several 
of  the  schools  under  the  auspices  of  our  church's  Board 
of  Education  for  Negroes,  as  well  as  some  of  the 


134  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

schools  of  other  denominations  and  a  number  of  the 
independent  institutions.  I've  been  to  these  because  it 
is  likely  that  a  man  can  better  understand  what  his  own 
church  is  doing  when  he  knows  something  of  the  work 
being  done  by  other  agencies." 

"That's  true,"  interjected  the  president.  "It  is  all 
part  of  the  same  work.  Of  course  our  seminary  here 
is  a  Methodist  Episcopal  institution,  so  far  as  responsi 
bility  is  concerned,  but,  when  it  comes  to  the  students, 
we  have  many  denominations  included." 

"How  many  students  have  you?"  inquired  J.  W. 

"About  one  hundred,"  said  the  president.  "We 
would  like  to  have  more,  but  a  theological  seminary 
never  seems  to  be  the  place  to  look  for  a  crowd.  I 
believe  our  enrollment  compares  pretty  well  with  that 
of  similar  institutions  for  the  white  race.  There  are 
a  good  many  temptations  to-day  to  draw  young  men 
of  every  race  into  callings  other  than  that  of  the  min 
istry,  and  yet,  when  you  take  everything  into  considera 
tion,  I  doubt  whether  there  is  any  calling  which  offers 
more  in  the  way  of  satisfaction  or  which  provides  a 
finer  opportunity  for  service." 

"What  kind  of  students  do  you  get,  mostly?"  asked 
J.  W. 

"Well,  we  get  students  of  every  sort,"  answered  the 
president.  "We  like  to  get  college  graduates,  and  we 
always  have  a  certain  proportion  of  them  in  attendance, 
but  not  so  many  as  we  would  be  glad  to  have.  Then 
we  get  some  who  have  had  a  little  college  work,  others 
who  have  had  only  a  high-school  training,  and  still 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE     135 

others  who  have  had  only  the  training  of  a  grade 
school.  Of  course  we  can't  do  as  much  for  them  as  we 
can  for  those  who  have  a  satisfactory  preparation  for 
the  work,  but  we  are  able  to  help  them  a  good  deal, 
after  all,  and  we  admit  almost  any  one  of  good  char 
acter  who  gives  promise  of  profiting  to  a  reasonable 
extent  from  the  work.  We  confer  degrees,  however, 
only  on  those  who  have  a  college  education." 

"What  kind  of  course  do  you  offer?"  said  J.  W. 

"If  you  will  just  glance  through  this  catalogue," 
said  the  president,  "you  will  see  what  the  courses  in 
clude.  They  cover  Old  Testament  History,  Christian 
Ethics,  Public  Speaking,  Composition  and  Rhetoric, 
Christian  Missions,  New  Testament  Greek,  Hebrew, 
Church  History,  Church  Music,  Sociology,  and  numer 
ous  other  courses.  Some  of  them  are  elective  and  some 
are  required.  You  must  visit  some  of  the  classes  be 
fore  they  are  dismissed,  and  I  think  we  had  better  go 
right  away  or  it  will  be  too  late." 

With  this  remark  the  president  led  the  way  out  into 
the  hall  and  opened  the  door  of  a  room  from  which  the 
sound  of  voices  was  coming.  Within  sat  more  than 
thirty  young  men  apparently  engaged  in  earnest  dis 
cussion  with  their  teacher,  the  theme  being  the  meaning 
of  a  certain  passage  of  the  New  Testament  which  is 
couched  in  such  distinctly  Oriental  terms  as  to  make  its 
real  significance  somewhat  obscure  to  one  unac 
quainted  with  Oriental  customs  and  habits  of  expres 
sion. 

J.  W.  and  his  guide  listened  for  a  few  moments  to 


136  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

the  discussion,  and  then  passed  on  to  another  room 
where  a  smaller  group  was  more  or  less  laboriously 
translating  New  Testament  Greek.  In  the  next  room 
which  they  entered  both  teacher  and  pupils  had  their 
coats  off,  and  were  busily  engaged  at  large  tables. 

"Is  this  a  class?"  inquired  J.  W. 

"Yes,  this  is  a  class  in  map-making,"  said  the  presi 
dent. 

"And  how  long  has  that  been  a  part  of  the  training 
of  a  Christian  minister?"  laughed  J.  W. 

"We  have  it,  as  you  see,"  said  the  president.  "But 
we  have  been  doing  this  sort  of  work  only  a  short  time. 
We  are  able  to  do  it  now  because  of  the  cooperation 
of  the  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Exten 
sion.  The  officers  of  the  Board  have  felt  for  some  time 
that  the  men  who  go  out  to  do  rural  work  ought  to 
have  some  special  training  for  the  special  needs  of  that 
work.  We  have  agreed  with  them,  but,  in  the  past,  we 
have  not  been  able  to  give  the  courses  needed  because 
of  other  demands  upon  us.  The  Board  has  now  placed 
a  man  here  to  help  us  in  that  part  of  the  work.  He 
becomes  a  regular  member  of  the  faculty. 

"The  making  of  parish  maps  is,  of  course,  only  a 
•detail  of  a  much  more  elaborate  program.  We  do  feel, 
however,  that  every  minister  ought  to  know  how  to 
study  his  own  parish  and  how  to  assemble  the  facts 
concerning  it.  He  can  hardly  work  out  an  intelligent 
program  until  he  has  done  that,  and  a  map  is  simply 
the  starting  point  for  the  study.  It  does  a  man  good 
to  map  his  field  and  locate  the  roads,  school  houses, 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE     137 

lodge  halls,  churches,  cotton  gins,  and  other  public  and 
semipublic  institutions  which  it  contains,  as  well  as  the 
homes  of  the  people  among  whom  he  is  working.  A 
man  has  to  know  a  lot  about  his  field  in  order  to  make 
a  map  of  it.  I'll  admit  that  it  is  a  new  thing  for  the 
Negro  pastor  to  think  in  terms  of  maps  and  parish 
surveys  and  community  programs,  but  it  is  the  thing 
that  is  needed.  In  the  past  the  average  pastor  down 
here  has  gone  at  things  in  a  rather  haphazard  sort  of 
way,  but  that  won't  work  any  longer.  The  Negro  has 
been  loyal  to  the  church,  even  when  the  church  had 
little  to  offer  except  a  revival  meeting  once  or  twice  a 
year,  but  the  younger  generation  aren't  to  be  reached 
by  such  method,  or  lack  of  method.  We  must  put  more 
emphasis  in  the  future  on  religious  education  and  com 
munity  service. 

"That  means  a  good  many  changes — a  change  in 
the  attitude  and  ideals  of  the  Negro  preacher,  a  change 
in  the  kind  of  buildings  to  be  built  and  used  as  churches, 
and  yet  other  and  far-reaching  changes.  Of  course 
it's  a  long  slow  process,  but  we  think  we  are  on  the  right 
track." 

"I  have  been  tremendously  impressed  with  the  in 
adequacy  of  the  church  buildings  I  have  seen,"  inter 
jected  J.  W.  "They  all  seem  to  be  of  one  type — four 
walls  and  a  roof — only  some  are  more  dilapidated  than 
others." 

"Yes,"  said  the  president,  "the  curse  of  the  Negro 
church  to-day  is  that  type  of  building,  and,  worse  than 
that,  a  program  which  demands  nothing  better.  We 


138  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

must  have  more  adaptable  buildings,  but  we  must  also 
have  men  trained  to  make  effective  use  of  those  better 
buildings.  At  Gammon  we  are  trying  to  bring  in  the 
new  day  by  training  the  men." 

"Wouldn't  it  be  fine  if  something  could  be  done  for 
the  men  who  are  already  out  in  the  work,  but  who  never 
had  adequate  training  for  it  ?"  ventured  J.  W. 

"We  are  doing  something  for  just  that  group,"  said 
the  president.  "Every  summer  we  cooperate  with  the 
Department  of  Rural  Work  of  the  Board  of  Home 
Missions  and  Church  Extension  in  holding  here  a  sum 
mer  school  for  rural  pastors.  We  have  some  of  the 
most  capable  rural  experts  in  the  country  on  the  faculty, 
and  there  is  always  a  large  number  of  pastors  enrolled. 
We  try  to  crowd  as  much  training  as  possible  into  the 
few  weeks  when  the  school  is  in  session,  and  it  has 
already  been  demonstrated  that  the  men  do  go  home 
with  broader  ideas  to  put  into  use  in  their  respective 
parishes." 

"It  certainly  is  a  fine  thing,"  said  J.  W.  "I  be 
lieve  they  told  me  something  about  a  summer  school 
for  pastors  over  at  Wiley  College,  but  I  didn't  really 
get  the  idea.  That's  one  kind  of  work  I  believe  in." 

In  the  next  room  which  they  entered  J.  W.  was  sur 
prised  to  find  that  nearly  half  of  the  class  was  made  up 
of  Negro  young  women.  "Are  you  training  young 
women  to  become  ministers?"  inquired  J.  W. 

"No,  not  that,"  said  the  president.  "This  is  our  De 
partment  of  Missions.  Some  of  these  young  women  are 
wives  of  our  students,  and  some  are  from  the  neighbor- 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE     139 

hood  close  at  hand  or  from  down  in  the  city.  Some 
are  Student  Volunteers  and  may  one  day  go  to  Africa 
as  missionaries.  I  don't  know  whether  you  have  ever 
heard  about  our  special  arrangement  here  for  the  teach 
ing  of  missions.  We  are  particularly  fortunate  in  hav 
ing  at  Gammon  the  headquarters  of  the  Stewart  Mis 
sionary  Foundation  for  Africa." 

"I  dislike  to  make  the  confession,"  said  J.  W.,  "but 
I  do  not  think  I  ever  heard  of  it." 

"I  will  tell  you  a  little  about  it,"  said  the  president, 
when  they  were  once  more  out  in  the  hall.  "The 
Stewart  Missionary  Foundation  was  established  by  a 
Methodist  minister  named  William  Fletcher  Stewart. 
He  believed  thoroughly  that  the  coming  of  the  Negro 
to  America  was  providential,  and  that  the  Negro  in 
America  should  be  trained  to  carry  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  back  to  his  fellows  in  Africa.  He  wanted  to 
leave  money  for  the  carrying  on  of  that  sort  of  work. 
The  question  was  whether  it  should  be  centered  near 
his  home  in  Illinois  or  at  some  other  place.  At  last 
Gammon  Theological  Seminary  was  chosen,  and  we 
have  benefited  immeasurably  by  that  choice.  We  have 
already  sent  a  good  many  of  our  students  to  Africa, 
and  hundreds  of  other  students  have  gone  out  with  an 
intelligent  knowledge  of  and  interest  in  our  missionary 
work  which  they  would  not  otherwise  have  had.  Then 
the  Foundation  carries  on  educational  work  in  all  of 
the  other  Methodist  Episcopal  schools  for  Negroes, 
and  encourages  the  students  to  write  missionary  essays, 
orations,  and  hymns,  for  which  it  offers  prizes.  It  also 


140  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

publishes  a  missionary  periodical  known  as  The  Foun 
dation  and  in  a  number  of  other  ways  promotes  inter 
est  in  missions." 

"I  don't  see  how  a  Methodist  minister  ever  got 
enough  money  to  found  a  work  like  that,"  laughed 
J.  W. 

"Well,  that  is  a  story  by  itself,"  continued  the  presi 
dent.  "Mr.  Stewart  was  a  remarkable  man  in  more 
ways  than  one.  He  was  born  out  in  Ohio  in  the  fron 
tier  days  of  1824.  As  a  boy  he  worked  on  a  farm  for 
twenty-five  cents  a  day,  but  he  always  managed  to  save 
a  portion  of  his  earnings  then,  as  he  did  later  when  his 
salary  as  a  minister  was  one  hundred  dollars  a  year. 
He  learned  two  things  from  his  frugal  parents — one 
was  to  save  his  money,  and  the  other  was  to  give  sys 
tematically  to  the  missionary  work  of  the  church.  In 
college  he  boarded  himself  at  a  cost  of  from  thirty  to 
forty  cents  per  week,  but  he  always  had  money  to  give 
to  missions.  He  was  graduated  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class.  He  felt  that  his 
call  to  the  Christian  ministry  was  clear,  and,  although 
he  was  offered  a  salary  ten  times  larger  in  another  field, 
he  accepted  a  circuit  with  eighteen  appointments  and 
a  salary  of  one  hundred  dollars  per  year.  He  traveled 
it  with  horse  and  saddlebags,  and,  as  of  necessity  he 
lived  most  of  the  time  among  his  people,  he  was  able 
to  save  a  portion  of  his  salary.  He  invested  his  savings 
in  land,  together  with  six  hundred  dollars  received 
from  his  father,  and  to  such  good  effect  that  he  ulti 
mately  became  a  very  wealthy  man,  although  he  never 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE     141 

left  the  ministry.  The  Stewart  Missionary  Foundation 
was  only  one  of  many  benevolences  toward  which  he 
contributed,  but  it  is  perhaps  fair  to  say  that  no  money 
which  he  ever  gave  yielded  him  larger  satisfaction  than 
did  this.  He  established  the  work  long  enough  before 
he  died  so  that  he  had  the  pleasure  of  watching  it  for 
a  number  of  years." 

"That  sounds  like  a  fairy  tale,"  ejaculated  J.  W., 
"but  I  suppose  it  must  be  true,  or  you  wouldn't  tell 
it  to  me." 

"It's  true  enough,"  said  the  president,  "and  I  haven't 
told  you  half  the  story.  I  will  give  you  a  pamphlet 
telling  you  about  Mr.  Stewart,  and  you  can  take  it  home 
and  read  it  at  your  leisure. 

"I  think  now,"  he  continued,  "that  we  had  better  go 
outside  and  see  the  campus  and  some  of  the  other 
buildings." 

"You  have  an  unusually  spacious  campus,"  said 
J.W. 

"Yes,"  replied  the  president,  "we  are  proud  of  it. 
It  was  part  of  a  large  tract  of  land  secured  originally 
by  Bishop  Gilbert  Haven  for  Clark  University.  At 
that  time  it  was  entirely  outside  the  city.  Now  the  city 
limits  have  been  extended  until  we  are  included,  al 
though  the  campus  of  Clark  University,  which  adjoins 
us,  is  still  outside.  A  good  many  people  laughed  when 
the  bishop  secured  this  land.  They  said  it  was  so  far 
out  from  town  that  no  one  would  ever  come  here  to 
go  to  school.  Now,  you  see  how  easily  and  quickly 
it  can  be  reached.  In  those  days,  however,  there  were 


142  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

no  pavements,  and  the  red  Georgia  mud  was  deep  and 
bad  for  travel. 

"These  houses,"  he  continued,  "are  homes  erected  for 
the  professors,  and  this  building  on  our  right  is  our 
library.  We  think  it  is  a  beautiful  building,  although 
it  may  look  small  to  you  in  comparison  with  some  libra 
ries  which  you  have  seen.  Our  main  building  here  we 
call  'Gammon  Hall/  We  have  had  to  use  it  for  all 
sorts  of  purposes.  For  years  we  have  been  handi 
capped  in  some  respects  for  lack  of  space,  but  now  we 
are  to  have  some  relief,  for  this  new  building  which 
you  see  going  up  is  to  give  us  added  school  facilities. 
The  brick  structure  over  here  is  our  refectory.  We 
have  had  it  only  a  few  years.  It  is  excellently  adapted 
to  our  purposes.  Most  of  the  students  board  there." 

"And  what  are  all  of  these  cottages?"  inquired  J.  W. 
"Are  they  on  the  campus?" 

"Yes,  they  all  belong  to  us,"  replied  the  president. 
"They  represent  what  we  believe  to  be  an  unusual  and 
most  useful  feature  in  a  school  of  this  sort.  Those 
are  student  cottages,  provided  for  married  men  who 
have  started  in  the  ministry,  and  then  have  become 
awakened  to  the  importance  of  special  training  for 
their  work.  We  have  ten  such  cottages,  and  we  give 
the  use  of  them  free  to  the  men  and  women  who  ought 
to  have  them.  They  have  made  possible  a  seminary 
education  for  many  men  who  otherwise  never  would 
have  had  one.  Of  course  we  don't  allow  young  men 
to  get  married  and  then  come  here  to  use  the  cottages 
while  they  study.  They  are  reserved  for  carefully  in- 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE    143 

vestigated  cases,  in  which  the  use  of  a  cottage  means 
the  difference  between  a  seminary  training  and  the 
lack  of  one,  to  a  man  already  in  the  ministry." 

"I  never  heard  of  anything  of  the  sort,"  J.  W.  ad 
mitted. 

"Possibly  you  would  like  to  walk  over  to  Clark  Uni 
versity,"  said  the  president.  "This  Seminary  was  origi 
nally  started  as  a  Department  of  Theology  in  the  Uni 
versity,  but  it  has  since  developed  into  an  independent 
institution.  We  now  have  no  official  relation  to  Clark, 
except  that  we  are  both  under  the  general  supervision 
of  the  Board  of  Education  for  Negroes  of  the  Meth 
odist  Episcopal  Church,  but  we  do  have  a  very  close 
fraternal  relationship.  Some  of  our  students  take 
work  in  Clark,  and  some  students  from  Clark  take 
work  with  us.  You  see  we  are  only  a  few  hundred  feet 
from  each  other." 

"It  looks  to  me  as  though  Clark  had  some  fine  build 
ings  too,"  remarked  J.  W.  as  they  entered  the  Clark 
campus.  "This  one  seems  to  be  a  new  one,  and  from 
the  outside  I  have  rarely  seen  a  finer-looking  school 
building." 

"It  is  a  fine  building,"  agreed  the  president.  "This 
is  a  product  of  the  advance  missionary  program  of  the 
church  which  grew  out  of  the  Centenary  of  Methodist 
Missions.  Years  ago  this  institution  was  designated  as 
the  one  to  be  developed  as  a  university,  but  the  develop 
ment  has  lagged  for  lack  of  funds  to  provide  buildings 
and  an  adequate  teaching  staff.  The  school  has  been 
doing  good  work,  but  heretofore  it  has  not  measured 


144  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

up  to  its  name.  This  remarkable  new  building  is  de 
signed  as  the  first  long  forward  step  in  the  new  pro 
gram  of  the  school.  It  contains  modern  and  well- 
equipped  recitation  rooms  and  scientific  laboratories, 
and  it  will  be,  from  now  on,  the  center  of  the  institu 
tion's  life." 

"What  is  this  'L'  extension  at  the  front?"  asked 
J.  W. 

"That  is  the  new  chapel,"  answered  the  president. 
"They  have  named  it  after  a  Negro  who  has  been  a 
teacher  here  nearly  all  of  his  life,  and  who  served  for 
a  number  of  years  very  successfully  as  the  president  of 
the  school.  He  retired  recently,  and  was  granted  a  pen 
sion  for  life  by  the  Carnegie  Foundation.  At  the  ex 
treme  opposite  end  of  the  long  building  is  a  modern 
gymnasium  with  a  swimming  pool  and  other  acces 
sories. 

"The  building  just  beyond  this,"  continued  the  presi 
dent,  "is  the  former  college  building.  It  has  always 
been  used  partly  as  a  boys'  dormitory,  and  it  may  be 
devoted  altogether  to  that  purpose  now.  Beyond  that 
is  another  structure,  originally  erected  for  purposes  of 
industrial  training.  In  front  of  these  buildings  is  the 
athletic  field.  This  building  at  our  left  is  the  girls' 
dormitory  and  boarding  hall,  and  the  building  beyond 
that  is  the  Thayer  Industrial  Home,  carried  on  by  the 
Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  in  connection  with 
the  school.  The  buildings  which  you  see  in  the  dis 
tance  are  some  of  the  farm  buildings,  for  the  school 
has  quite  a  farm,  including  a  dairy  and  a  good  many 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE    145 

pigs  and  hens.  The  school  still  owns  several  hundred 
acres  of  land  which  it  hopes  some  day  to  sell  off  for 
building  lots,  and,  with  the  proceeds,  to  enlarge  its  en 
dowment.  About  two  hundred  acres  have  already  been 
sold,  I  believe,  and  the  proceeds  turned  into  the  endow 
ment  fund." 

"It  has  the  possibilities  of  a  really  great  school," 
said  J.  W. 

"Yes,  and  it  is  growing  rapidly  now,"  said  the  presi 
dent.  "A  new  day  seems  to  have  dawned  for  it.  Its 
graduates  are  already  filling  many  places  of  responsi 
bility." 

As  J.  W.  and  the  president  started  back  toward  the 
Gammon  campus  they  met  an  aged  colored  man  com 
ing  down  the  walk. 

"Good  afternoon,  Doctor,"  said  the  president,  "and 
how  are  you  to-day?" 

"Very  well,  thank  you,"  replied  the  old  gentleman. 
"I  am  out  for  my  afternoon  stroll." 

"I  want  you  to  meet  a  new  friend  of  mine,"  said  the 
president,  as  he  presented  J.  W.  "I  was  just  telling 
him  a  little  about  you  when  we  were  over  by  the  new 
chapel." 

"That  new  chapel  does  give  folks  a  chance  to  talk 
about  me,"  said  the  Doctor,  "but  I  want  to  say  that  I 
didn't  have  anything  to  do  with  choosing  the  name  for 
it.  They  seemed  to  want  to  name  it  after  me,  and 
what  could  an  old  man  do  with  so  many  young  ones 
against  him?" 

"It's  a  beautiful  building,"  said  J.  W. 


146  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"And  it's  got  a  good  name,"  quickly  added  the  presi 
dent. 

"It  pleases  me,  of  course,"  said  the  old  teacher. 
"And  I  have  tried  to  make  the  name  a  worthy  one. 
Whether  I  have  succeeded  or  not  I  must  leave  for 
others  to  decide." 

When  they  had  passed  on,  the  president  turned  to 
J.  W.  and  said :  "That  man  has  made  a  record  of  which 
he  and  his  friends  may  well  be  proud.  He  has  a  bril 
liant  intellect  and  oratorical  gifts  of  rare  excellence, 
and  his  life  has  been  beyond  reproach.  He  was  the 
first  Negro  to  be  regularly  employed  as  a  teacher  by 
the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  way  back  in  the  seventies. 
He  is  the  author  of  one  or  two  books,  and  he  gained 
quite  a  reputation  as  an  orator.  He  has  spoken,  by 
special  request,  in  Henry  Ward  Beecher's  church,  and 
has  occupied  other  prominent  platforms.  He  is  the 
only  man  who  was  ever  granted  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
from  Atlanta  University,  and  he  is  the  only  secretary 
which  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary  and  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Clark  Uni 
versity  have  ever  had.  He  spent  the  best  part  of  his 
life  here  on  this  campus,  and,  although  he  has  now  re 
tired  from  active  service,  the  influence  of  his  person 
ality  is  still  felt  in  the  two  schools.  You  would  enjoy 
sitting  down  to  visit  with  him  for  an  hour,  if  you  had 
the  time,  and  he  would  enjoy  it  too.  He  is  a  man  of 
broad  culture  and  wide  experience,  and  his  name  has 
for  years  been  in  Who's  Who." 

"It  would  be  a  delight  to  talk  with  him,  I  know," 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE     147 

said  J.  W.,  "but  I  am  afraid  I  shall  have  to  forego  that 
pleasure  this  time.  I  must  IDC  going  back  to  town  in 
a  few  minutes.  There  is  one  question  that  I  want  to 
ask,  however,  before  I  go.  What  gave  Gammon  Theo 
logical  Seminary  its  name  ?" 

"The  school  was  named  after  Elijah  H.  Gammon, 
the  original  and  practically  the  only  benefactor  of  the 
school.  He  did  not  know  that  it  was  being  named  after 
him  until  the  job  was  done,  but  it  is  most  appropriate 
that  it  should  be  so  named.  He  gave  twenty  thousand 
dollars  originally,  to  establish  a  Chair  of  Theology  in 
Clark  University,  and  when  the  school  became  an  inde 
pendent  one  he  gave  much  larger  sums.  Practically  all 
of  the  buildings  here  were  erected  with  his  money,  and 
before  he  died,  he  made  such  provision  for  the  school 
that  it  now  has  a  half  a  million  dollars  endowment." 

"Who  was  he,  and  how  did  he  make  his  money?" 
inquired  J.  W. 

"Possibly  you  will  think  that  I  am  trying  to  play  a 
joke  on  you  when  I  tell  you  that  he  too  was  a  Methodist 
minister.  Let  me  add  at  once,  however,  that  he  didn't 
save  his  money  out  of  his  salary.  He  was  born  just  a 
little  more  than  a  century  ago,  on  a  rough  New  Eng 
land  farm,  and  came  up  through  the  discipline  of  hard 
work.  He  taught  school  for  a  time,  and  then  became 
a  minister,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four.  He  preached 
for  quite  a  number  of  years  both  in  New  England  and 
in  the  Middle  West,  and  served  as  a  presiding  elder.  A 
chronic  bronchial  difficulty  eventually  forced  him  to 
give  up  preaching  altogether.  He  spent  a  year  looking 


148  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

around,  before  deciding  what  he  would  do  next.  At 
length  he  determined  to  begin  the  manufacture  of  har 
vesting  machinery.  In  this  new  field  he  not  only  made 
a  very  important  contribution  to  the  development  of 
modern  harvesting  implements,  but  he  also  succeeded 
in  amassing  a  fortune,  which  he  used,  not  for  selfish 
gratification,  but  for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  on  earth." 

"It  surely  is  a  coincidence  that  Mr.  Gammon,  as  well 
as  Mr.  Stewart,  should  have  been  a  Methodist  minis 
ter,"  said  J.  W.  "I  have  been  deeply  stirred  by  the 
stories  of  these  men.  Little  we  realize  how  many  such 
unselfish  men  there  are  in  the  world,  and  yet  there  are 
enough  needs  for  Christian  service  to  attract  many 
more  strong  men  of  ability  and  means,  whose  lives 
might  be  dominated  by  the  same  high  ideals  that  con 
trolled  these  two  men. 

"I  must  thank  you,"  he  continued,  "for  a  most  profit 
able  afternoon.  I  have  been  in  the  South  a  good  deal 
during  the  last  few  months,  but  this  is  my  last  trip 
into  this  part  of  the  country  for  some  time.  I  am  glad 
that  I  was  able  to  see  this  unique  school  after  seeing 
the  others.  I  shall  never  forget  this  visit,  nor  the 
stories  of  the  men  who  have  helped  to  make  the  work 
possible.  You  are  working  away  at  a  difficult,  but  at 
the  same  time  an  inspiring,  task,  in  undertaking  the 
training  of  a  race's  religious  leaders.  The  sort  of 
ministers  the  Negro  has  in  the  next  generation  will,  to 
a  large  extent,  determine  what  the  Negro  will  be  in  the 
following  generation.  I  can  see  that  in  a  real  sense 


RELIGIOUS  LEADERS  OF  A  RACE     149 

you  are  helping  to  shape  his  destiny.  And  I  like  to 
feel  too  that  I  am  a  partner  in  the  work,  for  I  am  a 
member  of  the  church  which  has  made  it  possible.  In 
a  few  days  I  shall  be  back  at  home.  I  don't  know  when, 
if  ever,  I  shall  be  in  Atlanta  again,  but  I  wouldn't  have 
missed  this  opportunity  of  talking  with  you  and  see 
ing  something  of  your  work  for  a  great  deal.  I  shall 
remember  you  and  it,  and  I  shall  be  able  to  pray  and 
give  more  intelligently  in  the  future  because  of  what 
I  have  learned." 

"The  pleasure  has  been  at  least  half  ours,"  answered 
the  president.  "We  believe  in  what  we  are  doing,  and 
we  are  glad  to  show  what  we  have  and  explain  our 
work  to  visitors  like  yourself.  If  you  do  come  this 
way  again,  be  sure  to  come  out  and  see  us." 

J.  W.  walked  thoughtfully  back  down  the  magnolia 
lined  drive  to  the  car  line.  The  next  day  he  left  Atlanta 
for  Saint  Louis,  and  a  few  days  later  he  was  at  home 
in  Delafield. 


CHAPTER  VII 
A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP 

J.  W.'s  homecoming  after  his  trip  to  Nashville 
and  Atlanta  had  unusual  zest  both  for  himself  and 
Jeannette.  Of  course  Jeannette  was  at  the  station  to 
greet  him,  as  she  always  was,  but  this  time  there  was 
a  new  light  even  in  her  eyes.  She  had  something  won 
derful  to  look  forward  to.  They  had  talked  it  over 
the  last  time  J.  W.  had  been  at  home,  and  now  the  time 
was  at  hand  when  the  plans  which  they  had  formed 
could  be  realized.  It  was  on  this  wise. 

Jeannette  and  J.  W.  had  been  married  while  yet 
Pastor  Drury  was  disabled,  and,  as  they  could  not  tell 
just  how  events  were  to  turn  with  him,  neither  of  them 
felt  like  having  a  real  celebration.  And  so  they  had 
never  had  a  wedding  trip.  Now  they  were  to  make 
up  for  that  deficiency.  Jeannette  had  suggested  the 
idea,  but  J.  W.  had  not  been  slow  in  giving  it  his 
approval. 

For  months  now  J.  W.  had  been  on  the  road,  with 
only  brief  intervals  at  home,  while  Jeannette  had 
"stayed  by  the  stuff,"  and,  though  she  would  not  say  so, 
had  at  times  been  very  lonesome  indeed.  It  hardly 
seemed  as  though  she  had  a  husband ;  he  was  away  so 
continuously.  She  was  not  so  anxious  to  take  a  trip 


A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP          151 

as  she  was  to  get  J.  W.  away  where  she  could  have  him 
to  herself  for  a  little  while.  To  J.  W.  she  had  said, 
"You  see  we  are  free  to  go  now.  We  may  never  get 
so  good  an  opportunity  again." 

Decision  having  been  reached  that  they  go  some 
where,  J.  W.  suggested  New  York  city  as  a  destina 
tion.  "Every  one  has  to  see  New  York  sooner  or 
later,"  he  laughed,  "and  we  might  as  well  do  it 
sooner." 

After  a  few  days  at  home,  days  of  much  planning 
and  some  packing,  they  were  ready  to  start.  Jeannette 
had  arranged  the  trip  so  that  the  last  half  of  it  might 
be  taken  by  daylight,  and  the  afternoon  of  the  second 
day  found  them  following  swiftly  the  course  of  the 
broad  Hudson,  with  the  imposing  Palisades  rising 
from  the  opposite  bank.  Jeannette  recalled  the  words 
of  Washington  Irving  in  "Rip  Van  Winkle,"  in  which 
he  speaks  of  "The  lordly  Hudson,  moving  on  its  silent 
but  majestic  course,  with  the  reflection  of  a  purple 
cloud,  or  the  sail  of  a  lagging  bark,  here  and  there 
sleeping  on  its  glassy  bosom,  and  at  last  losing  itself  in 
the  blue  highlands." 

"Irving  had  the  poetry  of  it  right,  anyway,"  she 
said,  turning  to  J.  W.,  "but  the  bosom  of  the  Hudson 
is  a  busier  place  to-day  than  it  was  in  Irving's  time." 

"It  surely  is,"  said  J.  W.  "I  wonder  what  he  would 
think  to  see  it  now." 

A  little  later  it  became  apparent  even  to  the  uniniti 
ated  that  the  train  was  entering  New  York.  Tall  build 
ings  and  other  unmistakable  signs  began  to  appear,  and 


152  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

Jeannette  had  settled  herself  for  her  first  view  of  the 
heart  of  the  city,  when  suddenly  the  train  disappeared 
under  ground  and  New  York  vanished  from  view. 
Some  miles  further  on  they  came  to  a  stop,  still  under 
ground.  Jeannette  and  J.  W.  followed  the  crowd  into 
the  station,  and  J.  W.  said,  "This  is  no  place  for  an 
amateur  to  try  to  find  his  way  around  at  this  time  of 
day.  We'd  better  just  take  a  taxi  to  our  hotel,  and  then 
we  won't  get  lost.  We're  on  our  wedding  trip  anyway, 
and  I  think  we  deserve  that  much." 

And  so  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening  they  drove  to  the 
hotel.  It  wasn't  the  biggest  or  the  most  expensive 
place  in  the  city,  but  it  was  bigger  than  anything  of 
the  sort  which  Jeannette  had  ever  seen.  It  made  her 
feel  very  small  indeed.  She  wondered  if  everyone 
knew  that  she  and  J.  W.  were  from  a  small  town  in 
the  Middle  West,  and  she  wondered  whether  she 
would  ever  be  able  to  find  her  own  way  around  the  hotel 
alone,  to  say  nothing  of  the  great  city  outside. 

In  the  days  which  followed,  Jeannette  and  J.  W. 
gave  themselves  up  with  enthusiasm  to  sight-seeing. 
They  found  that  New  York  wasn't  such  a  difficult  place 
to  get  around  in  after  all,  and  each  night  they  were 
able  to  check  off  a  number  of  things  from  the  list  of 
those  which  they  had  hoped  to  "do"  while  in  the  city. 
They  rode  to  the  top  of  the  highest  building,  and  there, 
with  many  others,  enjoyed  a  view  the  like  of  which 
J.  W.  said  everybody  knew  could  not  be  found  any 
where  else  in  the  world.  They  rode  on  the  subway, 
and  counted  it  no  special  pleasure.  They  looked  out 


A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP          153 

upon  the  Statue  of  Liberty.  They  visited  Ellis  Island, 
and  saw  thousands  of  immigrants  file  in  for  examina 
tion.  They  went  to  all  the  show  places :  Central  Park, 
the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  the  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  the  Public  Library,  Chinatown,  the  East  Side, 
and  the  other  regulation  "sights." 

Incidentally  they  were  much  impressed  with  what 
they  saw  and  with  what  they  learned  about  the  daily 
life  of  a  great  city.  J.  W.  learned  that  the  subways, 
elevated,  and  surface  lines  of  Greater  New  York  car 
ried  twice  as  many  passengers  every  day  as  all  of  the 
railroads  in  the  United  States  combined.  He  was  told 
that  a  child  was  born  in  the  city  every  six  minutes,  that 
a  wedding  took  place  every  thirteen  minutes,  and  that 
a  funeral  was  held  every  fourteen  minutes.  He  dis 
covered  that  a  new  building  was  erected  every  fifty- 
one  minutes,  that  a  fire  occurred  every  thirty  minutes. 
He  found  that  hundreds  of  people  come  to  New  York 
every  day  to  live,  and  that  he  and  Jeannette  were  only 
two  of  some  thirty-five  million  transients  who  visit 
New  York  every  year.  He  figured  this  meant  that 
every  three  years  New  York  entertained  approximately 
as  many  people  as  the  entire  population  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  amazed  to  learn  that  nearly  eight  out 
of  every  ten  of  the  residents  of  New  York  were  either 
foreign-born  or  the  children  of  foreign-born  parents, 
and  equally  surprised  to  know  that  New  York  had  the 
largest  Negro  population  of  any  city  in  the  United 
States. 

This  latter  fact,  coming  on  top  of  his  recent  interest 


154  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

in  the  Negro,  impressed  J.  W.  considerably.  He  knew 
that  Negroes  had  been  coming  North,  but  he  was 
hardly  prepared  for  the  statement  that  New  York  had 
more  Negroes  than  any  city  in  the  South.  That  night 
he  engaged  the  Negro  waiter  in  conversation,  asking 
him,  among  other  questions,  "Where  do  most  of  the 
Negroes  in  New  York  live  ?" 

"Oh,  in  different  parts  of  the  city,"  said  the  waiter, 
"but  mostly  up  in  Harlem.  There's  plenty  of  them  up 
there,  you'll  find." 

That  night  J.  W.  said  to  Jeannette,  "Ever  since  we 
have  been  here  in  New  York  we  have  been  doing  the 
things  that  we  set  down  in  the  list  to  do  before  we  left 
home.  Everybody  does  them.  I  propose  that  we  do 
something  different  to-morrow.  You  know  when  I 
was  down  in  the  South  I  got  very  much  interested  in 
the  Negro.  I  used  to  write  you  a  lot  about  what  I  was 
seeing  and  hearing.  Now  here  we  are,  right  in  the 
heart  of  the  biggest  Negro  city  in  the  United  States 
and,  for  all  I  know,  the  biggest  Negro  city  in  the 
world.  How  would  it  do  for  us  to  go  up  to  Harlem 
to-morrow  morning  and  spend  a  few  hours  just  looking 
around  ?  We  might  not  see  anything  worth  while,  but, 
then  again,  we  might." 

"That's  just  the  thing,"  said  Jeannette,  both  because 
she  really  thought  so  and  also  because  she  found  con 
siderable  pleasure  in  doing  the  things  that  J.  W.  really 
wanted  to  do. 

So  Jeannette  and  J.  W.  found  themselves  on  the 
subway  the  following  forenoon,  en  route  to  Harlem, 


A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP          155 

wherever  that  might  prove  to  be.  Neither  of  them  had 
a  very  clear  idea  of  directions  when  traveling  under 
ground,  but  they  could  ask  questions.  They  changed 
cars  twice  on  the  way,  and  J.  W.  observed  to  Jeannette 
that  he  was  sure  they  must  be  on  the  right  road,  for 
the  number  of  Negroes  among  the  passengers  increased 
each  time.  At  last  they  came  to  the  station  for  which 
they  were  making,  and  stepped  out  upon  the  subway 
platform. 

"Just  notice,"  said  J.  W.,  drawing  Jeannette  to  one 
side,  "we  are  the  only  white  people  getting  off  this 
train." 

"I  believe  you  are  right,"  said  Jeannette,  and  then 
she  counted  while  nearly  forty  colored  persons  passed 
through  the  gates,  with  not  a  white  person  among 
them. 

"We  must  have  struck  the  right  place,"  said  J.  W., 
as  they  walked  up  the  stairs  to  the  sunlight. 

"Well,  did  you  ever  see  anything  like  this?"  said 
Jeannette,  as  they  stepped  out  upon  the  sidewalk. 
"Would  you  imagine  that  we  were  in  the  same  city 
which  we  left  hardly  more  than  twenty  minutes  ago  ?" 

It  did  require  a  slight  stretch  of  the  imagination  to 
make  the  picture  which  greeted  their  eyes  fit  into  their 
first-acquired  conception  of  New  York.  The  most 
casual  glance  revealed  to  them  Negroes  everywhere, 
and  of  many  descriptions.  There  were  Negro  news 
boys  and  Negro  pedestrians  on  the  street,  Negro  shop 
keepers  of  many  sorts  in  front  of  their  places  of  busi 
ness,  waiting  on  Negro  customers.  In  the  center  of  the 


156  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

street  was  a  tall  Negro  policeman,  directing  the  street 
traffic. 

Jeannette  and  J.  W.  stepped  to  the  curbing  and  stood 
looking  about  them,  considering  what  they  would  do. 
Directly  across  the  corner  stood  a  large  structure  of 
numerous  stories,  which  had  some  of  the  marks  of  a 
public  school  building.  "Let's  go  across  and  look  in," 
said  J.  W. 

"You  are  the  guide  of  this  expedition,"  said  Jean 
nette.  "I'll  follow  where  you  lead." 

J.  W.  had  expected  to  get  a  glimpse  through  the  win 
dow  and  pass  on,  but  they  were  met  at  the  entrance  by 
two  pupils,  wearing  badges  which  seemed  to  indicate 
that  they  were  members  of  some  sort  of  a  reception 
committee.  "Won't  you  come  right  in?"  said  one  of 
the  boys. 

Jeannette  and  J.  W.  hesitated. 

"You're  quite  welcome,"  continued  the  boy.  "This 
is  Visitor's  week,'  and  you  may  go  anywhere  you 
choose." 

J.  W.,  ever  ready  for  a  new  experience,  smiled  and 
said,  "Thank  you,  I  believe  we  will  come  in." 

"Just  follow  me,"  said  the  boy,  and  Jeannette  and 
J.  W.  followed. 

The  next  thirty  minutes  were  highly  interesting. 
Their  guide's  mind  was  active,  and  he  told  them  many 
things  about  the  school  and  about  "visitor's  week." 
"You  see,"  he  said,  "this  is  a  special  week.  We  have 
different  guides  every  day,  and  the  pupils  who  stand 
best  in  their  classes  get  to  be  guides.  We  enjoy  it,  and 


A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP          157 

think  it  is  quite  an  honor.  If  you  would  like,  we  will 
begin  here  in  the  kindergarten,  and  then  go  on  through 
the  different  rooms." 

And  so  they  went  from  room  to  room.  There  were 
little  girls  and  boys  busy  with  handwork  in  the  kinder 
garten,  and  in  other  rooms  classes  of  about  forty  or 
fifty  pupils  each,  engaged  in  the  study  of  arithmetic, 
language,  geography,  spelling,  drawing,  physiology, 
and  other  subjects. 

"You  surely  have  a  large  school  here,"  remarked 
J.  W.  "How  many  pupils?" 

"We  have  about  twenty-five  hundred  pupils,"  said 
the  guide. 

"Is  it  entirely  a  Negro  school?"  asked  J.  W. 

"No,  not  entirely,"  answered  the  boy.  "We  have 
quite  a  number  of  white  pupils,  a  few  in  almost  every 
room,  but  you  see  this  neighborhood  is  pretty  well  given 
over  to  Negroes  now. 

"This,"  said  the  guide,  interrupting  himself,  "is  the 
principal's  office.  Come  in  and  meet  our  principal." 

J.  W.  and  Jeannette  were  ushered  into  the  princi 
pal's  office,  where  they  were  greeted  by  a  pleasant- 
voiced  man  who  seemed  really  glad  to  see  them. 

"Our  guide  here  is  a  good  one,"  said  J.  W.  "He  has 
not  only  shown  us  through  the  building,  but  has  told 
us  many  things  about  the  school." 

"That's  part  of  our  'visitor's  week,'  which  is  being 
observed  in  all  the  schools  of  the  city.  Of  course  we 
try  to  select  our  best  pupils  for  guides,"  the  principal 
added,  as  he  dismissed  the  boy. 


158  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"Are  there  any  other  schools  for  Negroes  as  large  as 
this  one  in  the  city?"  inquired  J.  W. 

"I  believe  we  have  a  larger  proportion  of  colored 
pupils  than  any  other  school  in  the  city,"  said  the  prin 
cipal.  "You  noticed  that  we  have  only  boys,  except 
in  the  lowest  grades,  where  we  have  a  few  girls.  There 
is  a  girls'  school  up  the  street  about  two  blocks  which 
has  just  about  as  large  an  enrollment  as  this  school, 
but  only  about  seventy-five  or  eighty  per  cent  of  the 
pupils  are  Negroes.  I  imagine  it  is  one  of  the  largest 
schools  for  Negro  girls  in  the  United  States,  even  then. 
There  are  some  interesting  facts  about  that  school  too. 
It  has  one  of  the  finest  school  buildings  you  are  likely 
to  find  anywhere.  A  few  years  ago  it  was  almost  as 
'exclusive'  as  a  private  school,  for  this  was  one  of  the 
best  residence  sections.  The  very  large  influx  of  Ne 
groes  into  the  city  in  recent  years  has  changed  all  that. 
There  are  several  schools  around  here  now  which  have 
a  very  substantial  proportion  of  Negro  pupils,  but  I 
believe  none  has  so  many  as  we  have  here." 

"Do  you  meet  any  special  problems  in  this  school 
that  would  not  be  found  in  other  schools  in  the  city?" 
said  J.  W. 

"Yes,  we  do  have  some  special  problems,  particularly 
with  the  new  arrivals  from  the  South,"  said  the  prin 
cipal. 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  that  there  are  still  some  Ne 
groes  coming  North  ?"  said  J.  W.  "I  thought  they  came 
only  during  the  recent  war." 

"Oh,  no;  they  are  coming  all  the  time,"  said  the  prin- 


A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP          159 

cipal,  "and  so  many  children  are  here  without  their 
parents.  They  live  with  'aunts/  or  'uncles,'  or 
'cousins,'  or  just  neighbors.  Their  parents  send  them 
North  in  order  that  they  may  get  the  advantage  of  the 
schools  up  here,  and  the  relatives  with  whom  they  are 
supposed  to  stay  don't  always  pay  proper  attention  to 
them.  They  suffer  considerably  for  lack  of  home  dis 
cipline.  Then,  too,  we  have  the  problem  of  the  older 
pupil  who  has  never  had  much  chance  to  go  to  school, 
and  who  has  to  begin,  therefore,  practically  at  the  bot 
tom.  We  are  forced  to  organize  special  classes  for 
such  pupils." 

"Do  you  think  these  pupils  learn  as  fast  as  white  pu 
pils  do?" 

"Oh,  they  learn  all  right,"  said  the  principal.     "I 
haven't    noticed   much   difference   there,   particularly 
when  the  home  conditions  are  satisfactory." 
J.  W.  thought  they  should  be  going. 
"We  mustn't  take  any  more  of  your  time,"  he  said. 
"Don't  worry  about  time,"  said  the  principal.    "We 
are  glad  to  talk  with  those  who  are  interested  in  what 
we  are  doing,  and  this  week  particularly  we  are  giving 
visitors  the  right  of  way.    It's  just  about  time,  however, 
for  our  fire  drill.    Perhaps  you  would  like  to  go  down 
to  the  street  and  watch  the  pupils  come  out." 

"Oh,  yes ;  I've  always  wanted  to  see  a  fire  drill,"  said 
Jeannette. 

The  principal  went  with  them,  and  they  had  no 
sooner  reached  the  sidewalk  than  the  gong  sounded. 
Almost  immediately,  it  seemed,  the  lines  of  children 


160  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

began  to  appear.  One  line  turned  to  the  right  and  the 
other  to  the  left.  And  they  kept  coming.  Jeannette 
wondered  if  some  were  not  going  back  and  coming  out 
a  second  time,  like  the  "Roman  Army"  in  the  high 
school  pageant  at  home,  but  not  so.  When  the  last 
child  was  out,  she  turned  to  view  the  long  lines  of  pu 
pils  stretching  far  in  either  direction. 

"That  was  worth  seeing,"  she  said,  her  eyes  aglow, 
as  they  bade  the  principal  good-by,  "and  we  thank  you 
for  your  courtesy  to  us.  We  shall  always  remember 
this  morning." 

The  tourists  from  Delafield  walked  slowly  for  several 
blocks,  and,  as  they  walked,  each  helped  the  other  to 
see  whatever  was  to  be  seen.  They  passed  motion 
picture  theaters  evidently  patronized  by  Negroes ;  more 
schoolhouses ;  beautiful  churches  which  J.  W.  was  sure 
were  Negro  churches;  a  fine  new  Negro  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
building.  At  length  they  came  to  a  neat  library  build 
ing. 

"I  wonder  if  this  is  for  Negroes  too,"  said  Jeannette. 

"We  can  very  soon  find  out,  if  questions  will  do  it," 
said  J.  W.  as  he  took  Jeannette  by  the  arm  and  started 
up  the  steps  to  the  building. 

To  J.  W.'s  questionings  the  young  woman  at  the 
desk  replied,  "Well,  the  library  is  for  the  community, 
and,  since  the  community  is  now  mostly  colored,  I 
suppose  you  might  say  it  is  for  Negroes.  In  fact, 
most  of  the  people  who  use  the  building  are  Negroes, 
as  you  can  see  by  looking  about  you  now.  We  are  try 
ing  to  make  the  library  of  use  to  the  people.  An  ex- 


A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP          161 

hibit  of  Negro  art  has  just  ended.  If  you  had  been 
here  yesterday,  you  might  have  seen  it,  but  I  am  afraid 
you  are  too  late  now.  We  secured  the  exhibits  from  a 
good  many  different  sources,  and  we  kept  them  on  dis 
play  for  several  months.  I  think  it  was  a  good  thing 
for  our  constituency.  The  newspapers  gave  the  ex 
hibit  quite  a  little  publicity,  and  many  visitors  came  to 
see  it." 

"We  are  glad  to  know  there  was  such  an  exhibit, 
even  if  we  cannot  see  it,"  said  J.  W.,  and  they  thanked 
the  young  woman  and  turned  to  go. 

"We  surely  have  seen  variety  enough  this  morning," 
said  Jeannette,  as  they  came  out  upon  the  street.  "But 
I  believe  we  ought  to  begin  to  think  about  getting  back 
to  the  hotel." 

"All  right,  we'll  go  now,"  said  J.  W.  "First  let  me 
speak  to  this  Negro  policeman  on  the  corner." 

"Pardon  me,"  said  J.  W.,  as  he  approached  the  man 
in  uniform,  "can  you  tell  me  the  best  way  to  get  down 
town  from  here?" 

"Yes,"  said  the  man.  "Take  the  subway  on  this  side 
of  the  street  at  the  next  corner." 

Now,  J.  W.  had  been  fairly  well  aware  of  the  lo 
cation  of  the  subway  station  before  he  asked,  but  he 
had  wanted  to  get  a  little  closer  view  of  this  colored 
officer,  as  well  as  to  see  him  in  action,  so  he  said, 
"They  keep  you  rather  busy  here  on  this  corner,  don't 
they?" 

"Yes,  we  have  plenty  of  traffic,"  said  the  officer,  as 
he  signaled  to  several  waiting  automobiles  to  proceed. 


162  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"I'm  from  the  Middle  West,  where  we  don't  often 
see  a  Negro  policeman,"  said  J.  W. 

"No,  there  aren't  so  many  of  them  in  the  country, 
I  guess,"  said  the  man,  "but  we  have  them  here,  and 
they  have  some  in  Chicago.  I  imagine  there  are  some 
in  some  other  cities,  but  I  don't  know." 

"Do  Negroes  in  New  York  hold  any  other  city 
positions?"  asked  J.  W. 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  the  Negro.  "But  we  are  proudest 
of  our  two  Negro  aldermen.  We  didn't  elect  politi 
cians,  but  we  selected  two  professional  men  who  had 
never  been  in  politics,  and  then  we  went  to  them  and 
told  them  they  would  have  to  accept,  and,  if  I  do  say  it, 
you  would  not  find  it  easy  to  pick  out  members  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  better  educated,  or  more  highly 
cultured,  than  our  men.  They  rank  well  with  most  of 
the  other  members." 

"I'm  glad  to  hear  it,"  said  J.  W.  "That's  one  way 
to  better  city  government.  It  looks  to  me  as  though 
you  had  a  rather  prosperous  and  contented  Negro 
colony  here,"  said  J.  W. 

"Yes,  we  are  getting  along  quite  well,"  said  the 
Negro,  smiling,  "quite  well;  though  you  may  suppose 
we  could  do  better." 

"I  am  sorry  that  we  didn't  get  to  see  what  the  Meth 
odist  Church  is  doing  up  there,"  said  J.  W.  to  Jean- 
nette,  after  they  were  seated  in  the  subway  train.  "But 
I  guess  we  will  have  to  let  that  go  until  our  next  trip," 
he  laughed.  "It  must  have  been  quite  a  strain  on  the 
resources  of  our  Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church 


A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP          163 

Extension  to  have  so  many  Negroes  come  North  all  at 
one  time,  if  any  effort  was  made  to  take  care  of  our 
share  of  them.  You  couldn't  get  very  far  here  with  the 
kind  of  church  that  only  costs  a  few  hundred  dollars. 
In  the  first  place,  the  city  wouldn't  let  you  build  such  a 
building  if  you  wanted  to,  and,  in  the  second  place,  it 
wouldn't  reach  the  people,  even  if  you  built  it.  You 
would  have  to  have  a  real  church  or  none  at  all." 

That  evening,  as  J.  W.  was  glancing  through  the 
paper  his  eye  was  attracted  to  a  bold  headline  which 
read: 

$400,000  NEGRO  CHURCH 

SAINT  MARK'S  TO  BE  THE  MOST  PRETENTIOUS  CHURCH  FOR  THE 
RACE  IN  THE  CITY 

Plans  were  filed  yesterday  for  what  will  be  the  most  preten 
tious  church  for  Negroes  on  Manhattan  Island.  It  will  be  erected 
on  the  block  bounded  by  Saint  Nicholas  and  Edgecombe  Avenues, 
i37th  and  I38th  Streets.  The  building  will  cost  $400,000.  It 
will  be  the  new  home  of  Saint  Mark's  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  which  for  many  years  has  occupied  the  edifice  231  West 
53d  Street,  between  Seventh  and  Eighth  Avenues. 

The  new  building  will  be  three  stories  in  height,  with  a  parish 
house  fronting  on  Saint  Nicholas  Avenue.  Sibley  and  Feather- 
stone  are  the  architects.  The  Rev.  William  H.  Brooks  is  the 
pastor. 

"There  you  have  it,"  said  J.  W.,  turning  to  Jean- 
nette,  "just  what  I  was  thinking.  And  now  I  remember 
reading  in  one  of  the  church  papers  some  time  ago  about 
this  church.  I  believe  it  is  the  leading  Methodist  Epis 
copal  church  for  Negroes  in  the  city,  but  they  have  been 
located  downtown,  and  now  most  of  their  people  are 


164  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

living  up  in  Harlem,  miles  from  the  church.  If  I  re 
member  correctly,  the  members  of  the  congregation 
had  at  that  time  pledged  something  over  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  for  the  new  building,  and  that  was 
some  time  ago.  I  imagine  the  Board  of  Home  Mis 
sions  and  Church  Extension  is  helping  too.  It's  proba 
bly  one  of  thousands  of  projects  which  we  have  been 
giving  to  through  our  Centenary  offerings.  I  am  glad 
that  they  are  going  to  do  a  good  job  while  they  are  at 
it.  The  church  that  gets  anywhere  must  do  its  work 
in  a  worthy  and  dignified  way  to-day,  and  especially 
so  among  the  Negroes.  I  have  seen  so  many  cheap 
churches  lately,  which  had  no  facilities  for  special  re 
ligious,  educational,  club  work,  or  other  community 
service  that  I  feel  like  giving  three  cheers  for  anybody 
who  has  courage  and  faith  enough  to  go  at  the  task 
in  a  big  way." 

"I  agree  with  you  on  the  question  of  churches,"  said 
Jeannette,  "but  just  now  it  seems  to  me  that  we  are 
wasting  perfectly  good  time.  Here  we  are  in  New 
York,  and  in  a  few  days  we  shall  be  gone.  Is  there 
any  reason  that  we  should  not  take  a  walk  along  'the 
Great  White  Way'?  Everybody  talks  about  it,  and 
from  the  glimpse  we  had  of  it  last  night,  certainly  no 
other  street  has  so  many  electric  lights  at  work  all  at 
one  time.  What  do  you  say?" 

"As  usual,  just  what  you  say,"  laughingly  replied 
J.  W.  "If  it's  a  walk,  I'm  for  it.  Perhaps  we'll  get  to 
see  that  much-talked-about  Methodist  church  which  is 
ninety-nine  steps  from  Broadway." 


A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP          165 

"I'll  trust  you  to  find  it,  if  it's  a  church,"  said  Jean- 
nette.  "It  ought  not  to  be  too  difficult.  Hasn't  it  a 
conspicuous  electric  sign?  Something  like  that  is 
needed  to  remind  a  lot  of  people  that  the  church  is 
still  on  the  job,  even  here  in  this  great  city." 

And  Jeannette  and  J.  W.  set  out  to  enjoy  the  sensa 
tions  of  an  evening  walk  along  one  of  the  most  famous 
streets  in  the  world.  But  that's  not  a  part  of  this 
story. 

The  next  day  they  passed  into  the  great  railroad 
terminal  to  begin  the  trip  home.  Jeannette  avowed 
that  it  had  been  a  perfectly  wonderful  experience,  but 
she  also  confessed  that  she  was  ready  to  get  back  to 
Delafield,  which,  everything  considered,  had  some  ad 
vantages  as  a  place  of  permanent  residence  even  when 
compared  with  New  York. 

On  the  way  home  they  stopped  off  for  a  day  at  Chi 
cago,  where  a  college  friend  of  J.  W.'s  undertook  to 
"show  them  the  town."  They  rode  through  some  of 
the  beautiful  parks;  they  saw  the  tall  "gum  tower"  on 
the  drive,  which  J.  W.  thought  did  pretty  well  as  an 
isolated  specimen,  but  which  in  his  judgment  was  not 
quite  up  to  New  York;  they  visited  "the  pier,"  which 
Jeannette  admitted  was  big  enough,  even  though  she 
could  never  remember  whether  she  was  supposed  to 
call  it  the  "million  dollar  pier"  or  the  "five  million  dol 
lar  pier" ;  and  they  lunched  at  a  great  department  store 
down  in  what  every  one  insisted  on  calling  the  "loop." 

In  the  afternoon  they  headed  with  a  friend  for  an 
other  part  of  town.  The  way  led  them  through  streets 


166  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

which  reminded  J.  W.  so  much  of  Harlem  that  he  said 
as  much  to  Jeannette. 

"Yes,"  said  their  guide,  "this  entire  section  of  the 
city  is  now  given  over  to  Negroes.  Chicago  has  had 
more  than  its  share  of  the  Exodus.  Miles  and  miles  of 
houses  which  a  few  years  ago  were  occupied  by  white 
families  now  all  are  occupied  by  Negroes.  Some  of 
them  are  very  beautiful  places  too.  This  church  here 
that  we  are  now  passing,"  he  continued,  "was  a  few 
years  ago  a  Methodist  Episcopal  church  for  white 
people.  It  is  still  a  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  but  the 
complexion  of  the  preacher  and  the  members  of  the  con 
gregation  has  changed  entirely.  Three  years  ago  that 
congregation  was  meeting  in  an  old  store  building  so 
small  that  three  men  could  span  it.  Now  the  people 
fill  this  great  auditorium  every  Sunday." 

"I  suppose  they  have  had  to  organize  some  new 
churches  to  accommodate  the  newcomers?"  said  J.  W. 

"They  have,  indeed,"  said  his  friend.  "I  wish  I 
could  tell  you  how  many  Methodist  Episcopal  churches 
have  been  organized  for  Negroes  in  and  about  this 
city  during  the  last  few  years,  to  say  nothing  of  those 
of  other  denominations.  It  has  been  a  fine  thing,  the 
way  the  church  has  come  to  care  for  these  people  since 
they  turned  up  here,  strangers  in  a  strange  land.  In 
the  case  of  the  Methodists  it  was  the  Centenary  pro 
gram  which  made  it  possible  for  the  church  to  get  hold 
of  them  before  they  drifted  away  from  the  church 
altogether." 

"I  suppose,"  said  J.  W.,  speaking  to  Jeannette  as 


A  DELAYED  WEDDING  TRIP          167 

well  as  their  guide,  "that  we  could  find  situations  much 
like  what  we  have  seen  in  New  York  and  here  in  a  good 
many  other  cities  in  the  North.  Most  Americans  do  not 
realize  what  a  shift  in  Negro  population  has  taken  place 
in  the  last  few  years,  nor  how  much  it  is  going  to  affect 
our  national  life  from  now  on." 

"That's  very  true,"  said  Jeannette.  "We  are  all  so 
busy  with  our  own  affairs  that  we  don't  pay  much  at 
tention  to  what  other  people  are  doing,  particularly 
when  those  other  people  happen  to  be  of  another  race. 
I  guess,  though,  we  will  have  plenty  of  things  to  tell  the 
Epworth  League  about  the  Negro  question  when  we 
get  home.  Don't  you  think  so,  J.  W.  ?" 

Of  course  J.  W.  thought  so,  and,  with  that  matter 
settled,  the  little  party  of  three  took  a  few  more  notes. 

The  following  day  Jeannette  and  J.  W.  reached 
Delafield — their  first  homecoming  together  since  they 
were  married ;  and  home  never  seemed  quite  so  welcome 
before.  It  seemed  to  Jeannette  that  they  had  been  gone 
at  least  a  month,  and,  although  she  had  enjoyed  every 
minute  of  the  trip,  she  was  happy  to  be  at  home  once 
more,  to  don  her  apron  and  take  possession  of  the 
kitchen,  and  to  drop  back  into  the  sense  of  security  and 
peace  which  only  a  real  home  can  offer. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
AN  EVENT  AND  A  VISION 

DURING  the  months  following  the  New  York  trip 
J.  W.  was  much  away  from  Delafield,  but  when  sum 
mer  came  he  arranged  to  be  at  home  for  a  time.  It 
gave  him  a  chance  to  get  into  touch  once  more  with 
things  which  were  going  on  in  Delafield.  He  spent 
much  of  the  day  at  the  John  W.  Farwell  store,  helping 
his  father,  and  he  also  devoted  a  good  deal  of  time  to 
Jeannette.  Besides,  he  found  opportunity  to  do  many 
other  things  which  his  extended  absences  from  Dela 
field  had  previously  made  impossible. 

For  one  thing  he  had  his  first  real  chance  to  get 
acquainted  with  the  new  Methodist  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Conrad  Schuster.  He  came  to  be  very  fond  of  the 
minister.  He  discovered,  incidentally,  that  Mr. 
Schuster  had  not  failed  in  his  promise  that  he  would 
stand  by  the  program  of  interracial  cooperation  which 
J.  W.  had  been  instrumental  in  getting  started  in  Dela 
field.  Due  to  the  wise  and  tactful  leadership  of  the 
new  minister,  the  work  had  been  maintained,  and  there 
were  some  really  tangible  results  to  show  for  the  quiet 
efforts  which  had  been  put  forward.  Not  the  least  im 
portant  of  these  was  the  growing  confidence  and  mutual 

.168 


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AN  EVENT  AND  A  VISION  169 

understanding  between  the  leaders  of  the  two  races  in 
the  community.  Of  course  J.  W.  was  pleased  to  hear 
of  all  that  had  been  done,  and  he  discovered  that  he 
had  much  in  common  with  this  alert  young  man  who 
had  come  to  Delafield  to  take  up  the  work  which  Pas 
tor  Drury  had  been  forced  to  lay  down. 

To  J.  W.  it  was  also  a  source  of  delight  that  he  now 
had  opportunity  to  renew  those  long  visits  with  Pas 
tor  Drury  which  had  been  interrupted  during  the 
months  of  absence  from  Delafield.  And  it  was  no  less 
a  delight  to  Walter  Drury.  That  wise  man  listened 
eagerly  to  J.  W.'s  accounts  of  his  business  trips,  to  the 
humorous  incidents  of  the  road,  to  the  description  of 
the  schools  and  churches  which  J.  W.  had  visited,  to 
the  report  of  conversations  which  J.  W.  had  had  with 
Negroes  of  many  sorts,  and  to  the  recital  of  experiences 
on  the  trip  to  New  York  and  Chicago.  Out  of  his  long 
observation  and  wide  reading  Pastor  Drury  was  able 
to  bring  many  points  of  view  to  supplement  J.  W.'s 
impressions,  and  to  interpret  the  things  which  he  had 
seen  and  heard. 

It  was  during  one  of  these  visits,  which  seemed  to 
come  around  almost  inevitably  to  the  discussion  of  the 
Negro  and  his  future  in  America,  that  J.  W.  said: 
"Well,  my  respect  for  the  Negro  has  increased  enor 
mously  during  the  past  year.  There  are  still  multi 
tudes  of  very  ignorant  and  very  degraded  Negroes, 
but  what  you  have  said  about  the  progress  that  the  race 
has  made  in  the  last  half  century  being  almost  past 
belief  is  true.  I'm  not  much  of  a  history  expert,  but 


i;o  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

I  don't  recall  any  period  of  similar  length  in  the  record 
of  our  own  race  when  it  ever  made  such  rapid  progress. 
And  yet,  after  all  is  said  and  done,  I  would  not  like  to 
be  a  Negro." 

"Why  is  that?"  said  Pastor  Drury,  as  usual  ready  to 
lead  J.  W.  on  a  little  further. 

"Think  of  what  it  would  mean,"  continued  J.  W. 
"In  the  first  place,  I  would  have  to  give  up  my  job. 
My  firm  wouldn't  have  me,  and,  if  they  were  willing, 
how  would  I  get  along  traveling?  I  couldn't  get  into 
a  Pullman  car.  If  I  went  to  a  good  hotel  to  register, 
I  would  be  told  that  the  rooms  were  all  taken.  Of 
course  I  could  travel  in  the  Negro  coach,  and  sit  up 
all  night,  and  I  could  get  along  on  cold  lunches  and 
other  makeshifts,  but  it  would  be  pretty  desperate 
work.  Then,  even  if  I  could  get  a  hearing  at  all,  I 
would  be  obliged  to  sell  goods  cheaper  than  anyone 
else,  or  give  some  other  big  inducement  which  would 
ruin  the  business,  in  order  to  sell  any  goods  at  all.  If 
I  wanted  to  get  an  education,  I  would  find  that  some  of 
the  best  schools  were  closed  to  me,  and  if  I  wanted  to 
vote,  the  chances  are  that  I  would  not  be  permitted  to 
do  so.  I  should  have  to  choose  my  life  work  from  a 
limited  list  of  those  callings  which  are  open  to  Negroes, 
or  else  undertake  to  make  my  way  under  handicaps 
which  would  practically  doom  me  to  failure  from  the 
beginning." 

"That's  rather  a  gloomy  picture,"  said  Pastor  Drury. 

"Yes,  it  is,"  continued  J.  W.,  "but,  after  all,  there's 
a  sort  of  silver  lining  to  this  cloud.  I  think  things  are 


AN  EVENT  AND  A  VISION  171 

steadily  growing  better,  even  if  it  seems  to  the  eager 
black  man  that  progress  is  slow.  All  our  talk  about 
freedom  and  democracy  and  other  high  ideals  during 
the  past  few  years  hasn't  gone  for  nothing.  We  have 
proclaimed  those  principles  throughout  the  world,  and, 
sooner  or  later,  our  self-respect  is  going  to  force  us  to 
put  them  more  into  operation  right  here  at  home,  even 
if  our  sense  of  justice  and  fair  play  doesn't.  And  I 
have  a  good  deal  of  faith  in  the  fairness  of  the  Amer 
ican  people,  when  they  once  squarely  face  an  issue.  I 
just  don't  believe  that  they  have  seen  this  one  quite 
in  its  full  light  yet." 

"What  do  you  think  of  this  much-discussed  'social 
equality'?"  asked  Pastor  Drury. 

"Frankly,"  said  J.  W.,  "I  don't  know  what  they  are 
talking  about.  If  what  they  really  mean  is  intermar 
riage  between  the  races,  why  don't  they  say  so,  rather 
than  use  the  ambiguous  phrase,  'social  equality'?"  he 
continued.  "It  seems  as  though  I  have  been  asked  a 
hundred  times  whether  I  wanted  to  have  my  sister 
marry  a  'nigger.'  Of  course  I  don't  want  her  to  marry 
a  Negro.  I  don't  want  her  to  marry  a  Chinese,  and 
yet  the  Chinese  people  had  a  well-developed  culture 
thousands  of  years  ago,  while  my  ancestors  were  still 
barbarians.  I  don't  want  her  to  marry  a  Japanese,  and 
yet  the  Japanese  are  among  the  keenest  and  the  best- 
mannered  people  in  the  world.  On  the  other  hand,  I 
don't  know  that  I  care  for  any  law  to  keep  her  from 
doing  these  things.  I  am  willing  to  trust  the  good 
sense  of  American  girls  on  this  point." 


172  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

"I  agree  with  you,"  said  Pastor  Drury.  "It  always 
seemed  to  me  that  'social  equality'  was  a  matter  which 
would  take  care  of  itself  without  our  worrying  about 
it,  and  I  haven't  discovered  any  facts  yet  to  make  me 
change  my  mind." 

This  was  not  the  only  conversation  on  the  subject 
between  Pastor  Drury  and  J.  W.,  and  they  always  came 
to  somewhat  optimistic  conclusions.  Pastor  Drury 
rejoiced  as  he  saw  J.  W.'s  convictions  deepen  and  his 
sense  of  responsibility  for  the  application  of  the  prin 
ciples  of  Christianity  to  practical  affairs  become  more 
vivid. 

J.  W.  had  time  also  to  drop  in  occasionally  to  see 
the  Rev.  Alexander  Driver.  He  found  that  they  were 
of  the  same  mind  in  many  things,  and  he  never  came 
away  without  feeling  that  he  had  learned  something. 
In  turn  he  hoped  that  the  Negro  pastor  benefited  by 
the  interchange  of  ideas  which  these  occasions  af 
forded. 

During  one  of  these  calls  Mr.  Driver  suggested  that 
J.  W.  come  down  to  Saint  Mark's  some  Sunday  and 
tell  something  of  what  he  had  seen  of  the  work  of  the 
church  among  the  Negroes  in  the  South  and  of  his  ex 
periences  in  New  York  and  Chicago.  J.  W.  consented, 
and  the  following  Sunday  morning  he  was  greeted  by 
a  congregation  which  filled  the  church  to  the  doors. 
Facing  such  a  congregation  was  a  new  experience  for 
J.  W.,  and  he  was  a  little  nervous  as  to  the  outcome, 
but,  after  he  had  begun  to  speak,  he  forgot  all  about 
himself,  and  for  forty-five  minutes  he  told  of  the 


AN  EVENT  AND  A  VISION  173 

needs  and  the  achievements  of  the  Negro  and  of  his 
hopes  for  the  race  in  America. 

It  was  something  new,  likewise,  for  the  congregation, 
and  the  people  listened  intently  to  this  interpretation 
by  one  of  another  race  of  their  own  hopes  and  aspira 
tions.  Many  came  forward  to  greet  J.  W.  after  the 
service,  and  to  express  the  satisfaction  with  which 
they  had  listened  to  his  message.  The  preacher  told 
him  that  the  occasion  had  meant  more  to  his  people 
than  J.  W.  would  ever  realize. 

To  Jeannette,  J.  W.  said  when  he  got  home,  "I  know 
I  am  no  orator,  but  I  had  something  to  say  to  those 
people  this  morning,  and  I  enjoyed  saying  it.  I  think 
possibly  they  enjoyed  it  too.  I  am  glad  he  asked  me  to 
come,  and  I  am  glad  I  went,  even  though  I  did  have  to 
work  rather  hard  to  get  ready,  and  was  pretty  well 
scared  when  I  got  there." 

During  these  days  Jeannette  and  J.  W.  managed  to 
take  many  quiet  drives  into  the  country.  Sometimes 
they  carried  a  lunch,  sought  a  shady  spot,  and  there 
over  a  small  fire  fried  bacon  and  made  coffee.  More 
often,  however,  they  managed  to  get  around  to  "the 
old  farm"  about  meal  time,  for  they  were  well  aware 
that  there  was  no  shortage  of  food  in  Mother  Shenk's 
larder,  and  that  even  though  their  arrival  was  not 
heralded  in  advance,  it  would  be  no  trouble  to  find  a 
little  refreshment. 

Sometimes  they  would  wander  back  through  the  pas 
ture  to  the  brook  which  twisted  and  turned  and  doubled 
on  itself  in  its  careless  effort  to  flow  across  the  farm. 


174  J-  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

Then  Jeannette  would  seat  herself  in  the  shade  of  a 
tree  with  a  book  or  magazine,  or  more  frequently  with 
a  bag  of  sewing  at  her  side,  and  J.  W.  would  cut  a  fish 
ing  pole,  as  he  used  to  do  as  a  boy,  and,  with  an  im 
provised  line,  hook  and  bait,  would  try  to  lure  an  un 
suspecting  trout  from  his  lair.  He  wasn't  often  suc 
cessful,  for  trout  were  not  nearly  so  plentiful  as  they 
had  been  in  the  days  of  his  youth,  but,  as  he  remem 
bered,  fishing  did  not  necessarily  mean  catching  fish, 
and  his  poor  luck  did  not  mar  his  enjoyment.  To  the 
two  young  people  these  days  were  times  that  were  sure 
to  become  treasured  memories  to  be  looked  back  upon 
with  increasing  pleasure  and  deepening  satisfaction  as 
the  years  passed. 

Two  days  they  spent  with  "Marty,"  Jeannette's 
brother  and  J.  W.'s  boyhood  and  college  chum.  In  his 
rural  parish  he  was  known,  of  course,  as  the  Rev.  Mar 
tin  Luther  Shenk,  but  "Marty"  was  good  enough  for 
these  three  chums.  He  had  been  married  a  short  time 
previously  to  Alma  Wetherell,  a  friend  of  both  Jean 
nette  and  J.  W.,  so  that  their  visit  developed  into  quite 
a  reunion. 

A  long  letter  had  just  come  from  Joe  and  Marcia 
Carbrook,  who  had  gone  out  as  missionaries  to  China 
and  were  enthusiastically  giving  themselves  to  the  work 
there.  The  letter  brought  back  memories  of  many 
other  Delafield  young  people  who  had  grown  up  with 
them  and  had  now  gone  out  into  life.  Most  of  them 
they  had  never  heard  from  directly,  but  some  way 
they  had  that  persistent /though  usually  mistaken  feel- 


AN  EVENT  AND  A  VISION  175 

ing  that,  if  the  old  friends  should  all  drop  in  upon  them 
suddenly,  they  could  at  once  pick  up  the  threads  of 
friendship  which  their  separation  had  caused  to  be 
severed.  However,  they  realized  that  they  were  no 
longer  irresponsible  youngsters  taxing  the  patience  of 
their  elders,  but  that  the  years  which  had  passed  had 
placed  upon  their  shoulders,  without  their  conscious 
seeking,  the  responsibilities  of  maturity. 

J.  W.  could  see  that  Marty  had  developed  consider 
ably  since  he  had  seen  him,  and  Marty  insisted  that  his 
marriage  had  not  only  made  him  a  better  preacher  but 
had  also  given  him  quite  a  new  standing  in  the  commu 
nity.  Alma  laughed  at  this,  but  she  was  too  wise  to  deny 
it.  At  any  rate  the  work  was  going  well,  and  Marty's 
enthusiasm  for  it  was  stronger  than  ever.  He  was  a 
country  boy,  he  said.  He  believed  in  the  country,  and 
he  was  going  to  stick  to  it.  He  had  no  idea  of  using 
this  country  work  as  a  stepping-stone  to  a  city  job. 
He  was  a  country  preacher  for  life,  and  he  was  re 
solved  to  do  the  best  piece  of  work  that  it  was  possible 
to  do  in  the  country. 

J.  W.  noted  that  Marty's  library  was  rich  in  new 
books  on  the  work  of  the  rural  church,  and  he  smiled 
as  he  said  to  himself,  and  later  to  Jeannette:  "I  guess 
Marty  will  be  able  to  take  care  of  himself  all  right. 
He's  got  the  stuff  in  him,  and  he's  started  on  the  right 
track." 

As  the  weeks  passed,  the  J.  W.  and  Jeannette  auto 
mobile  trips  became  shorter  and  fewer.  Occasionally 
the  two  went  for  short  walks,  but  Jeannette  spent  most 


176  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

of  her  time  at  home  sewing  and  sewing  and  planning 
and  planning.  She  was  getting  ready  for  a  great  event, 
and  she  was  happy  and  content. 

In  the  early  fall  a  white-capped  nurse  appeared  at 
the  house,  and  a  few  days  later  the  doctor  was  hastily 
summoned.  J.  W.,  distressed  with  his  helplessness, 
tried  not  to  be  in  the  way,  and  as  no  one  seemed  to  have 
anything  for  him  to  do,  he  just  waited.  In  due  time 
came  the  word  which  has  thrilled  the  hearts  of  mil 
lions  in  like  circumstances,  but  which  refuses  to  grow 
old  with  use :  "It's  a  boy." 

In  the  days  that  followed  J.  W.  found  he  could  make 
himself  useful  once  more.  He  reveled  in  the  humblest 
tasks  which  were  assigned  to  him,  and  while  at  work 
he  dreamed  dreams  such  as  he  had  never  dreamed  be 
fore.  He  didn't  know  much  about  babies,  but  everyone 
told  him  the  baby  was  perfect,  and,  although  he 
thought  it  wiser  not  to  say  so  to  anyone,  he  was  se 
cretly  convinced  that  there  never  could  have  been  so 
remarkable  a  child  before. 

It  was  too  weeks  after  the  wonderful  event.  Jean- 
nette,  wrapped  in  a  soft  robe,  sat  in  a  comfortable 
chair  in  front  of  the  fire,  which  J.  W.  had  kindled  for 
her  benefit.  J.  W.  was  on  a  rug  at  her  side.  A  door 
opened.  The  nurse  stepped  into  the\room.  She  placed 
the  baby  in  Jeannette's  arms  and  withdrew.  The 
scene  was  one  for  an  artist ;  it  always  is.  But  no  artist 
could  picture  or  poet  voice  the  emotions  that  were 
surging  through  the  hearts  of  the  actors  in  it.  J.  W. 
knew  that  his  eyes  were  moist,  and  he  could  find  no 


AN  EVENT  AND  A  VISION  177 

words  to  express  the  feelings  that  welled  up  within 
him.  Words  were  not  needed,  for  he  understood ;  and 
Jeannette,  glancing  at  his  face,  understood  too. 

Thus  they  sat  in  silence  for  some  time.  Then  J.  W. 
spoke  softly.  "Jean,"  he  said,  using  the  particular  pet 
name  that  he  loved  best,  "these  have  been  wonderful 
weeks  to  me.  I  thought  I  had  lived  before,  but,  now, 
someway,  it  seems  as  though  I  had  just  begun  to  live. 
I  feel  as  I  imagine  the  men  of  old  used  to  feel  after 
they  had  had  one  of  those  mountain-top  experiences. 
I  have  been  thinking  about  you  and  about  our  boy. 
You  know  and  I  know  that  he  is  the  most  wonderful 
boy  in  the  whole  world.  We  want  him  to  grow  up 
strong  and  well,  to  get  a  good  education,  to  have  a 
thorough  religious  training,  and  to  have  in  every  re 
spect  just  the  best  possible  chance  to  make  the  most  of 
himself.  And  the  beauty  of  it  is  that  so  far  as  we 
can  see  there  is  no  reason  why  he  should  not  have 
practically  all  of  the  things  we  want  him  to  have. 

"But  do  you  know  what  came  into  my  mind  right 
away?  Probably  it  was  because  of  my  experiences 
this  past  year,  but  I  couldn't  help  thinking  that  proba 
bly  every  father  feels  very  much  as  I  have  been  feel 
ing.  And  that  means  the  fathers  of  the  red  babies, 
the  brown  babies,  the  yellow  babies,  and  the  black 
babies — babies  of  every  color  God  has  seen  fit  to  use 
for  babies'  complexions. 

"And,  when  you  come  to  think  of  it,  it's  surprising 
how  many  colored  babies  there  are  in  the  world.  I 
was  figuring  up,  and  at  least  two  thirds  of  the  people 


178  J.  W.  THINKS  BLACK 

of  the  world  are  colored.  That  means  that  at  least  two 
thirds  of  the  babies  of  the  world  are  colored.  Some 
times  we  get  the  idea  that  the  white  babies  are  the 
only  ones  that  really  count,  but  you  remember  what 
Abraham  Lincoln  said  about  the  common  people,  'God 
must  have  loved  them,  he  made  so  many  of  them/ 
Isn't  just  that  thing  true  about  the  colored  babies? 

"It's  made  me  just  a  little  ashamed  of  myself  and  of 
my  country,  as  I  have  realized  in  the  last  few  days  how 
we  place  such  serious  handicaps  on  their  little  shoul 
ders,  not  because  of  anything  they  have  done,  but  be 
cause  of  the  color  which  God  has  given  them.  There's 
something  in  it  all  that  makes  me  want  to  do  my  utmost 
to  bring  in  the  day  when  God's  children  of  every  color 
shall  really  have  a  fair  chance  at  all  the  high  privileges 
of  life.  And,  if  I  do  not  live  to  see  that  day  ushered  in, 
I  hope  that  our  boy  will  grow  up  to  carry  on  the  work 
that  we  must  leave  undone." 

This  time  it  was  Jeannette's  eyes  that  were  filled 
with  tears.  She  knew  that  J.  W.  was  still  on  the  moun 
tain  top,  and  that  he  was  speaking  with  unusual  feeling. 
Her  heart  was  touched,  but  what  she  thought  was 
something  that  did  not  need  to  be  talked  about.  In 
stead  she  reached  over  and  patted  J.  W.'s  arm,  and  he 
knew  that  she  understood. 

That  night  as  J.  W.  knelt  by  his  bedside  he  prayed, 
briefly  but  earnestly,  in  words  that  were  full  of  new 
meaning  to  himself : 

"O  Lord,  thou  hast  been  very  good  to  me.  Every 
thing  that  I  could  have  desired  thou  hast  supplied — a 


AN  EVENT  AND  A  VISION  179 

good  home,  good  parents,  abundance  of  food,  an  edu 
cation,  the  best  wife  in  the  world,  and  the  most  wonder 
ful  boy.  And  in  return  I  have  been  a  fool.  I  ask  thy 
forgiveness.  Now  I  know  how  childish,  how  absurd, 
and  how  unfair  much  of  my  thinking  has  been.  Thou 
art  a  better  God  than  I  have  been  willing  to  believe. 
I  know  now  that  thou  lovest  all  thy  children  with  a 
father's  love,  and  that  thou  hast  thine  own  reasons  for 
making  them  of  many  colors.  Forgive  my  foolish, 
bigoted,  and  unjustified  pride  and  make  me  humble 
and  teachable.  Help  me  in  the  future  to  do  justly,  to 
love  mercy  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thee.  Amen." 

And  then  J.  W.  rose  from  his  knees,  and  slept.  He 
would  be  ready  for  the  morning,  bringing  with  it  that 
perennial  miracle  of  a  loving  Father — a  new  day  with 
its  uncharted  and  unexplored  possibilities  and  oppor 
tunities. 


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